


A Fair Trade

by StoryWeaver4Ever



Category: Beetlejuice (1988)
Genre: Drama & Romance, F/M, Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-01-25 21:38:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 64,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12541768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StoryWeaver4Ever/pseuds/StoryWeaver4Ever
Summary: As long as he protected her from that abusive bastard, she'd do whatever the dead man wanted. To her that seemed like a fair trade. Betelgeuse (Questionable OOC - He has less sleaze and grossness, but kept him an asshole and gave him some maturity)/Lydia





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> -I usually write Inuyasha Fanfiction, but I've had this idea about Lydia and Betelgeuse drumming into my mind for some time now and had to get it out. I know Betelgeuse is a questionable OOC (He has less sleaze and grossness, but kept him an asshole and gave him some maturity) and I guess I would say Lydia might be OOC as well. I have other chapters for this story just waiting in the wings if this story gets enough people's interest, so please leave a review to tell me what you all think.-
> 
> -Disclaimer- I don't own anything related to the Beetlejuice franchise nor do I make any money from this. I just like to use them for my own twisted amusement and that is payment enough-

The young raven-haired woman held tightly to the distressed 5-month-old, as the pounding on the wooden door multiplied. It shook wildly from the abuse, but surprisingly it held firm. The person on the other side, cursed and yelled threats, while the terrified woman tried to calm the small child with soothing words. She tried to relax her tense posture, but the child still felt her distress and continued with its fussing.

Closing her eyes, she tried to block out the threats that were being thrown through the thick wood, but they seemed to increase in volume the more that she didn’t respond. Her exes screechy voice filtered into the enclosed room. “You stupid bitch! Open this fucking door right now! I’m going to shut that fucking brat up, then you’re fucking next!”

The scared mother silently prayed that the door would hold, though praying was useless. She knew what happened when you died and there was no god at the other end, just a boring waiting room with a bunch of stiffs.

Fuck! She ran her free hand through her matted hair as the panic within her began to rise. She didn’t want to die. Not anymore, anyway. She wasn’t a sad and depressed kid that wanted in on the other side. No, she had grown up a long time ago.

Her eyes popped open and went to the useless phone at her feet. The son of a bitch had cut the phone lines before he had broken into the house. The foot closet to it shot out and kicked the hunk of plastic across the tiled floor.

Shit! She should have known that something like this could happen. Why did she let her guard down? Why did she think that a protection order would have been enough? Goddamn it!

Her lip throbbed wildly, while her shaky fingers raised carefully to touch the split in her appendage. The fucking abusive cunt had caught her while she was sleeping. He had hit her a good one to wake her up from her slumber, then proceeded to strike her a few more times, before the opportunity to get away came. She did get in a kick of her own and was able to nail his nuts as a form of payback.

The door gave a groan, causing her brown eyes to snap to it and suck in a sharp breath. Oh no, the wood wasn’t going to hold much longer. Shit! They needed help. She tightened her hold on her daughter, as her mind franticly fought for some kind of solution. They couldn’t die like this! She couldn’t let them die like this! ‘Come on, Lydia! Think damn it!’ She screamed at herself as her fear got the best of her.

Suddenly a face from her childhood popped into her mind’s eye. Him! She hadn’t thought about him in years. Would he come if she called? Would his anger from their broken deal cloud his judgment? Shit, she wasn’t sure! Lydia really didn’t know him at all. Well, other than what she had seen and heard. None of those things were stellar by any means.

The wood of the door creaked some more, clearly splintering from the hits. She closed her eyes and held her breath, but the door didn’t budge. Christ, she had to decide whether she was going to call him or not. Either way Lydia looked at it, she was screwed.

The pounding continued and so did the groaning of the wood. Fuck it! She couldn’t let that abusive fucker on the other side of the door get to them. Lydia had always had some luck with the dead and now she had some leverage. The young mother knew what the dead man wanted the most, his freedom.

She opened her eyes and gazed at her daughter then leaned in to kiss her tiny forehead. She would do anything for her child, even if that meant giving up her own freedom. Lucinda was worth it. Her daughter would always be worth it.

Leaning her head back against the wall, Lydia closed her eyes once again and said the name that she swore that she would never utter. Her voice was but a whisper as the name slid passed her bloody lips. “Betelgeuse.” The hairs on the back of her neck and arms raised at her words. She swallowed again and forced the name. “Betelgeuse.” The air became thicker, and energy seemed to now flow around the tiny bathroom. Lydia held her child tighter and said his name one last time. “Betelgeuse.”

Crackling of energy swirled around the room, along with his gravelly laugh of triumph. “Fuck Yeah!” She heard him clap his hands in delight. “Free at fucking last. I knew that old bat couldn’t hold me!” There was some more whooping, then he became quiet as he must have taken in the situation he had popped into.  
  
Lydia opened her dark eyes and scanned the small room. Her terrified gaze landed on the now silent poltergeist and watched as recognition flashed in his green eyes. Before the young woman could blink, he was in front of her and his cool hand flew out to snag ahold of her chin. The poltergeist drew it up to his face for closer inspection. His bright eyes burned even brighter as he moved her face from side to side. Betelgeuse’s gruff voice oozed his anger, while his body shook violently, and a snarl ripped from him. “Who the fuck did this?”

As soon as she could open her mouth to speak, the door was getting another beating and the threats continued. “Lydia, you fucking whore! Did you really think a piece of paper would stop me? When I get to you, you are going to wish for your death, then I’m going to drown that little bastard that I never fucking wanted!”

Lydia sucked in a sharp breath and grabbed onto the dirty striped sleeve, as a plea fell from her lips. “Please, he’ll do it. He’ll hurt LuLu.” Tears pooled in her tired eyes and spilled down her cheeks, landing on his cold hand. “Please help us. I…I’ll do anything.”

Betelgeuse’s eyes roamed her face, then to the door and back. His smoky voice was hard as steel as he spoke to her. “Marry me. No fucking bullshit. No goody goodies and definitely, no goddamn sandworms! We marry tonight. Agree to my terms, and your problem will be gone.”

Lydia didn’t think twice as she agreed whole-heartedly to the terms laid out in front of her. As long as he protected Lulu from that abusive bastard, she’d do whatever the dead man wanted. To her that seemed like a fair trade. “Yes, I’ll marry you. Please just make him go away.”

The dead man stared at the frightened woman for a few minutes as if he were weighing her words. Not that she could blame him. The last time that they had made a deal, well, she had not kept to her word though being a teenager at the time hadn’t helped the situation. The poltergeist must have seen what he was looking for, because he swiftly released her jaw and pulled away.

Standing up, he cracked his knuckles and gave his new fiancée a Cheshire cat grin and a wink, while amusement and what seemed like excitement colored his tone. “It’s showtime.” The poltergeist snapped his fingers and blinked quickly out of sight, leaving the young mother with her thoughts.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Okay, so my usual updates won't be as quick as this, but I couldn't resist throwing this one up. I just felt that there really wasn't enough interaction between Betelgeuse and Lydia in the first chapter. I needed more, hell, you needed more, so here the chapter is. -
> 
> -Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Beetlejuice franchise nor do I make any money from this. I just like to use them for my own twisted amusement and that is payment enough.-

 

 

Lydia wasn’t sure how long it had been since Betelgeuse had disappeared, though the threats and the banging had ceased some time ago. She couldn’t help but wonder what the poltergeist had done to the abusive fuck. A tiny part of her, the small sliver of revenge, wished that she had been there to see it through. Taken slightly back by the line of thinking, the young mother shook her head to try and loosen the dark thoughts. A sigh escaped her, while she rested her cheek on her child’s head and waited for the dead man to say it was all well and good.

As Lydia waited, she mused over the situation that she had landed herself in. She didn’t regret her decision. No, if she had not called the poltergeist and agreed to his terms, Luke would have killed them both that was for damn sure. The twisted abusive twat would have done it without a damn hesitation and probably would have had some drugged-up crack whore help him dispose of their bodies. Lydia really hoped that whatever Betelgeuse was doing to him was slow and fucking painful. Once again, she really wished that she could have been there to watch the prick cry like a little bitch as he withered in pain. Maybe Betelgeuse would have let her get in a few kicks of her own. She was disturbed by how blissfully happy she felt at her thoughts. Shit, maybe she was more unbalanced than she had believed. 

Groaning lowly, she moved her thoughts once again away from the dark and dreary and went to her daughter. Her beautiful and now quiet child. It was funny, as soon as she had agreed to marry that dirty old poltergeist, Lucy had stopped her crying. Maybe that had something to do with the immediate wave of calm that had settled into her. It was like her mind was telling that they were safe with the dead man.

Lydia looked up when she heard the bathroom lock flip and watched as the door swung open to reveal her soon to be husband. With his arms spread out widely, Betelgeuse stepped through the threshold dressed in that tacky looking tux and he grinned down at her. “Problem’s gone Babes.”

The poltergeist stalked towards his wife-to-be and he stopped inches from her. Leaning down, he reached out and grabbed her arm to haul her to her feet. The dead man towered over the tiny woman and continued to grin at her. “Now for your end of the bargain, Sweets.”

She swallowed roughly and squared her shoulders. A deal was a deal and this time she wouldn’t back out of it. Her gaze did turn to the floor length mirror on the wall and caught her bloody reflection. She was literally a bloody mess and in no way fit to get hitched. She felt her face flush with embarrassment, as she turned back to her fiancée. “I’m such a mess.” She looked down at her bloodied clothes, then back to him “I’m not in any way suitable for a wedding. I should try to clean up, just a little…” She tried to pull away, but the poltergeist held firmly to her arm. “I got this Babes.” He snapped his fingers and in seconds, she was clean and dressed in red satin.

Her dark eyes moved back to the mirror and gasped at her reflection. ‘Oh my…’ Lydia thought to herself as she eyed her shocked image. The dead man had really out done himself this time. Betelgeuse had removed all of the blood and replaced it with some smoky makeup, while throwing her hair up in a simple updo. As for her dress, it was not the hot mess that he had thrown her in before. No, this time the dress was a formfitting red satin number with some red strappy heels. Dare she say that she looked, well, beautiful.

A rattle sounded, drawing Lydia’s attention to her tiny daughter and to her surprise, Betelgeuse had dressed Lucy in a swaddle of black lace. Her blonde hair was held together with a black beetle barrette. She was also waving around a bat shaped rattle, which she conveniently put in her small mouth. Lydia smiled brightly and lifted Lucy up, so she could fully see her. “Oh Lulu, look at how pretty you are. You look just like a little bug.”

She continued to coo at her, as a snort came from the dead man next to them. He cocked his head and eyed the small child. “She does, doesn’t she? Well hell, that wasn’t my intention but hey, must be destiny or some shit like that.” Betelgeuse plucked the little girl from her mother’s arms and held her to him. He gave the tiny child a smile, while his smoky voice seemed to soften. “Come on lil bug. We got a wedding to get to.” The poltergeist held his arm out for Lydia and she gave him a skeptical look. He rolled his eyes, before speaking “Woman, I’m tryin’ to be a gentleman here. Will ya go with it?”

Lydia let out a sigh and slipped her arm through his. The poltergeist had saved their lives after all, so she would cut the dead man some slack. Her stomach did a bunch of somersaults, but her steps never faltered. She would keep her word and marry this man.

They made their way to what had used to be her living room and there just like before was the ugly preacher man. The little man cleared his throat and looked at Betelgeuse “Are we ready to begin?”

The poltergeist grinned madly and nodded his head at the preacher “Yep. We are ready to go.”

Lydia bit her lip and pulled back slightly from the dead man. She had already decided to honor her deal with him, but maybe he hadn’t really thought about what he was getting into.

He turned to look at her when he felt her pull away, a frown marring his rugged face. “You ain’t thinking about backin’ out, are ya Babes?”

She shook her head, but stood her ground. “Are you sure you want to marry me? It’s just not me you would be getting, but Lucy as well.”

His green eyes went from her to her babbling daughter, then back to her with a firm nod. “I know what I’m getting into. I don’t think you understand what it means for me to marry someone with a kid.”

Lydia cocked her head and asked her question. “So what does it mean for you?”

Betelgeuse shifted Lucy higher on his hip, before he answered her. “This little bug will become mine. Not just on paper, but she will have some of my juice running through her veins. She may have been his, but as soon as we say I do, she will be my flesh in blood.”

The nervous woman didn’t know what to say. What he had just explained to her was not something that she had been prepared for. “Okay then.” Yeah that pretty much summed it up…

He gave her an amused look, before turning away and grinning widely at the silent preacher. “Now we’re ready. Let’s get this show on the road.”

The ceremony had gone faster than she had thought it would and soon they were exchanging rings. Then the ugly preacher was announcing them man and wife and for Betelgeuse to kiss his bride.

Lightening flashed outside, as the poltergeist grabbed onto her and kissed her soundly. Her small hand latched onto his lapel to steady herself, while her new husband plundered her mouth. It wasn’t a bad kiss and it didn’t taste like she had thought it would either. He tasted slightly of mint, which seemed to indicate that he must have tried to clean himself up this time around, but underneath that, was an earthy and nutty flavor that she assumed was what he normally tasted like.

When he pulled away, he gave her a serious expression as he asked her to say his name. “Say my name Babes.” She nodded her black head, as his name fell from her lips. “Betelgeuse…Betelgeuse…Betelgeuse…” Each time she said it, his lips grew wider and wider until the third time came, and he was still with them. His green eyes flashed brightly, and he swung her around, as he whooped and hollered with joy.

A small giggle erupted in between them, causing the dead man to stop and turn his attention to his new daughter. The little girl grinned wildly up at them and swung her bat rattle around. Lydia caught her daughter’s gaze and discovered that her once brown eyes were now hazel in color. The familiar jade of the poltergeist now swirled in her big doe eyes and that caused the dead man to cackle with more joy. He clicked his fingers and music sprang to life, as he began to waltz them around the room.

Lydia wasn’t sure how long that they had been dancing for but when she looked down at a now quiet Lucy, she realized that the child had finally fallen asleep. Looking up at her new husband, she cleared her throat. “Betelgeuse.” His piercing eyes found hers and he grinned dopily. “Yes, my wifey poo?”

God this man could be so corny. Her lips twitched, but Lydia kept her focus. “Lucy has fallen asleep. Maybe we should put her to bed.”

The poltergeist nodded his head, though they didn’t stop dancing as they made their way to Lucy’s bedroom. He twirled them around this way and that, stopping only when they made it to the child’s crib. Lydia shook herself free and took the sleeping baby from his arms, then carefully tucked her into bed.

A soft sigh escaped as Lydia’s attention went to her unconscious child. She couldn’t help but smile at how peaceful Lucy looked while she slept. Ah to be young and innocent and not have a care in the world. ‘Wouldn’t that be nice?’ Lydia mused to herself, as her husband’s hands went around her and rested on the bar of the crib.

Betelgeuse moved his body closer, effectively caging her in between himself and the bed, while his chin went to rest on her shoulder. His breath tickled the shell of her ear and his gruff tone washed over her. “She sure is a pretty thing, isn’t she?”

Lydia felt another smile bubbled forth and her raven head bobbed in agreement “Yes she is. You know, she was the best thing to come out of that terrible situation. I can’t understand how something so sweet could come from someone that horrible.”

She heard the poltergeist sigh again and what he said next caught her off guard. “Babes, just because something so sweet comes from someone so terrible, doesn’t mean it was meant for that person. Sometimes…they are just the bridge to something better.”

Wow. Who knew that he was so deep? Maybe there was something more do this dead man. Lydia peered over her shoulder at him and sent a grin of her own. “You that something better?”

His shoulders shrugged, while he pulled away and twirled her from the crib then into his arms. “Not sure. Maybe you’re something better for me. Not everybody gets a light, maybe ya both are mine.”

She felt her heart skip a beat and resisted the urge to melt like some lovestruck teen at his mushy words. “You really do know how to sweet talk girl when you want to. I guess that was why you have been the most eligible bachelor since Valentino.” Lydia gave her new husband a smirk, as she remembered the line that he had used on her when he tried to get her to marry him the first time.

Betelgeuse just laughed, not saying another word, while he swung them out of the room and back into the living room. They slowly spun around the room, as a comfortable silence enveloped them.

The only sound other than the music was a content and tired sigh that had escaped the tiny woman when her head went to rest against the shoulder of the quiet poltergeist. They leisurely swayed with the tempo, as her eyes started to grow heavy and exhaustion finally settled into her weary body. The new bride tried her hardest to keep her lids open, but soon she was lost to the darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't going to post until later in the week, but it was burning a hole in my metaphorical pocket and I had to post it. 
> 
> Okay, enough of my rambling and now on to the story. Enjoy!

Chapter 3

 

Lydia woke with a start, pulling herself up in her bed and glancing at the clock. It was just past 6 in the morning and usually she would have been woken up by Lucy by now. She rubbed her sleep crusted eyes and yawned widely, causing her to wince in pain from her forgotten cut and her fingers to gingerly touch the wound. The events from last night came back to her and she couldn’t help, but look around the room for her now husband.

She frowned when she didn’t find him and wondered where he could be. Did he ditch them as soon as they had both fallen asleep? Lydia couldn’t understand the pain that she felt at the thought of the obnoxious poltergeist leaving them. She rubbed her chest, then pushed away the covers and got out of bed.

The young mother made her way to her daughter’s room and peered into her crib. She panicked when she saw that Lucy was not in her bed. Her thoughts franticly turning to the worst-case scenarios. Oh my god, where could she be?

Lydia hurried out of the room and into the living room, where she saw the tv still on and an unfamiliar big black lazyboy in place of one of her chairs. She slowly made her way to the chair and relief washed over her. There in the chair was Betelgeuse stretched out and snoring away with her tiny daughter splayed out on his chest, her little snores echoing his larger ones.

The urge to capture the moment struck her and she rushed to get her camera before either one of them woke up. She came back with her device in hand and started quietly snapping away with it. It felt good to be behind her camera again and to hear the soft clicking that followed her every move. She couldn’t believe she had stopped something that she loved so much. She swore to herself that she would never let anyone take what she loves away again.

A sigh pushed between her lips, while she moved quietly around the chair, hitting all of the angles with her lens. Lydia hoped that the pictures would come out, unlike the photos of the Maitlands, which had no feet and all sheet. It really would be hard to explain how her daughter was just floating in mid-air, plus, it truly was a beautiful shot and would be a shame for it to end up going to waste.

Lydia pondered if it would be different since Betelgeuse himself wasn’t like the rest. She had to keep reminding herself that Betelgeuse was more than a regular entity. He was a very powerful poltergeist, who’s powers held no bounds. He was feared and contained for that very reason, though looking at him laying with a baby sprawled crossed his chest, he really looked harmless and dare she say ordinary. The poltergeist just looked like any other father falling asleep with their kid, which since they said I do, Lucy was in fact his child and he her father. Her stomach did somersaults at the notion and she bit the inside of her cheek as she thought on that.

Lydia had been positive that he would have bailed on them as soon as he said his I dos, especially with all the spouting years ago about his damn freedom, but the dead man had surprised her by staying. Why? Why did he stay when he had the chance to run? He was now a free man and yet he stayed. This man was a walking contradiction, though maybe that’s what he wanted people to see. Maybe what she was seeing was the real Betelgeuse. A smile formed on her face at her idea of being one of the few to see the real Betelgeuse and she couldn’t help but like it.  She shook her raven head at her thoughts, not wanting to think more on the feeling she had just experienced. Lydia carefully and quietly turned from the scene and made her way to her room to put her camera away, then to the kitchen to start breakfast.

Several minutes had passed, when a giggle floated into the kitchen followed quickly by a deep and gravelly laugh. In all of her 5 months, Lydia had never seen her daughter become so taken by someone so quickly. Usually it took some time for her to warm up to people, but the poltergeist had plucked her right from her arms straightaway and Lucy hadn’t made a single complaint. What was so beguiling about this dead man? It was like he was the flame and they were the moths. Had he always been this fascinating and charming? Had she just been too much of a teenager at the time to recognize this side of him or was there something more to it?

She heard his heavy footsteps coming from the direction of the living room and slowly making their way to the kitchen. She pushed her thinking to the side and continued to get things ready for breakfast.

When his footfalls stopped, she cocked her head over her shoulder and spotted the poltergeist leaning against the doorframe with Lucy sleepily clinging to his side. Lydia’s mind went blank for a few seconds as she took in the poltergeist in the morning light. He wasn’t wearing either of his suits, but a fitted white tee shirt and a pair of black and white stripped sleep pants. Lydia had to admit that the man’s suits did not do him any justice and made him look out of shape. What she was seeing now was anything but. ‘Wow, he sure looks good for a dead guy.’ She mused silently to herself, as the said dead man sent her a lazy grin and greeted her. “Mornin’ Babes.”

Lydia gave him a nervous smile and greeted him back, before pointing at the high chair “Morning. You can put LuLu in her chair” then she pointed to the full coffee pot next to her “There’s coffee if you’d like some.”

He gave her another grin before moving to put Lucy in her seat, then made his way slowly to where she was. She stiffened when he saddled up behind her and reached up to grab a mug from the hooks above. Out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn she saw him grinning like a mad fool as he carefully pulled himself away. “Excuse me, Sweets.”

“Where did you get the manners?” Lydia quipped to the man next to her.

Betelgeuse snored as he poured himself a hot cup of coffee “I’ve always had them, Babes. I just use them when I feel they are deserved.”

She couldn’t argue with that and just replied with a quick okay, before grabbing the plated food and moving to the table to set them down. She went back to grab the bowl that had Lucy’s rice cereal and finally sat in the seat next to her daughter. Turning to the poltergeist, she pointed to the food “I wasn’t sure if you’d be hungry or not, but if you are, please dig in.”

He gave her another grin and rubbed his belly “I’m always hungry and I’ll eat anything you give me, sweetheart. I do mean anything…” He leered sleazily at her, then laughed as he dished himself some food.

Lydia rolled her eyes at his dirty meaning ‘And here I was thinking he was a freaking gentleman.’ She released a small snort and turned to Lucy, who was watching Betelgeuse with all of her attention. Clearing her throat, she called Lucy’s name to draw her notice and began to feed her cereal.

Sometime later, Betelgeuse’s rough voice sprang out and asked a question that he must have been dying to ask from the very beginning. “So, Babes, How’d ya hook up with that piss ant from last night? You don’t look like the type to get mixed with that type of guy.”

Lydia’s head came up sharply as he voiced his enquiry, a frown marring her lips, while she took her time before answering him. “I met him after I was out of college. I had some of my work in a gallery and it became a big success. I was introduced to him by a friend at one of the gallery parties.” Her somber eyes turned to the dark liquid in her cup and she swirled it around, while she spoke “I thought he was a nice guy, but I was wrong, so terribly wrong. I…never thought that I would be one of those women that gets sucked in by some abusive twat. I thought that I would be able to recognize the signs and avoid a relationship like that.” A snore left her as she continued to stare at her cup “By the time I realized, I was so isolated and scared that I wasn’t sure what to do.”

She glanced at Lucy for a few seconds, then went back to her cup. “When I found out that I was pregnant I was so happy and I thought that Luke would feel the same. He didn’t though. He demanded that I have an abortion, but I told him I wouldn’t do that; I couldn’t do that and we argued. When I wouldn’t back down on the subject, he kicked the shit out of me. I don’t remember anything after that. I don’t even remember driving to the hospital, but according to the nurses I did. I stumbled into the emergency battered and bloody and collapsed right on the floor. I had my purse with me and they were able to figure out who I was. My parents were still on my emergency contact list, I never thought about taking them off and to be honest it never crossed my mind.  The hospital called them to let them know that I was there. They called the police too, but I was too scared to tell them who did it to me.”

Her eyes misted over and it became difficult to talk. “You know I always thought Delia didn’t care a lick for me, but that day, I had never seen her so upset. She looked at my dad and told him to go get her some coffee, which he reluctantly did of course. As soon as he left the room, she turned to me with her hands on her hips and asked me right out if it was Luke who did it to me. I was still too scared and refused to tell her. Delia has never been very warm and motherly to me, but I’ll never forget what she said. She looked me in my eyes and said, “Lydia Deetz, you tell your mama who did this to you, so mama can fix it!” I was so shaken from her words, Delia had never called herself my mother, sure she said stepmother, but it was never just mom. I hadn’t realized that she did have maternal feelings for me. All I could do was just nodded my head and I told her the truth. After my confession, she convinced me to tell the police, so they could arrest Luke for what he had done. The police left me with the paper for the protection order and Delia helped me fill them out, since the hand I usually wrote with was broken and in a cast. We got a judge to sign the protection order and I went home with Delia and my dad. I stayed there until Lucy was born, then decided that I hadn’t seen a hide or tail of Luke since the incident and thought that maybe I was rid of him. Don’t get me wrong, I was still cautious at the time, you know looking over my shoulder and making sure the locks were changed and kept locked, but I began to feel safe and fell back into that security. He must have been watching me that whole time and was just waiting for me to let down my guard. Last night was the first time I’d seen him since then.”

Silence stretched between them for some time, before the poltergeist spoke and it was not what Lydia expected, “I don’t really remember much about my life before I died. Sure, I remember my death and that I was a right prick at times, but the rest is a fucking blur. The only other thing that I remember is an oath I swore to myself. I swore that I would never raise my fists in anger to any women or child. I can only reckon that I’d seen some shit in my mortal life that no one should see and a part of that stayed with me even in death.”  His cold hand reached over the table top and touched hers, causing her to gazed up at him. “What he did ya babes, you don’t have to worry any more. He’ll never get the chance to hurt ya again.” He snapped his fingers and a bunch of papers appeared out on the table in front of her.

Lydia looked down in surprise and gingerly picked up one of the papers, reading it carefully. To her astonishment it was a termination of parental rights and it was signed by Luke. She looked over at her husband and raised the papers in her hand. “Is this really his signature?”

A sneer ripped out the poltergeist and a pure look of disgust hit his features “Damn straight it is. It’s the least the little bitch could do for ya.”

All she could do was nod her head as she put down the termination papers and picked up one of the other papers. This one was their marriage certificate for the mortal world. She frowned and asked him why they needed this “Why would we need this?”

Betelgeuse drank his coffee and kicked back “We live in the mortal world, sweets and I assumed that it would make shit easier for you and me.”

Lydia noticed that it said Benjamin Geist for the groom, instead of Betelgeuse. Her brow rose as she questioned him “Why isn’t your name on here and why Benjamin? Was that your name when you were alive?” She didn’t need to ask him where the Geist part came in, that was clearly self-explanatory.

He just shrugged his shoulders and continued leaning back in the chair. “Hell, if I know. It was the first name that popped in my head. For all I know It could have been. As for why, it’s easier to have an alias to get around the mortal world. Plus, the less people who know my real name the better.”

What he said made sense and Lydia could find no way to complain about it. She set down their marriage certificate on top of the termination papers and grabbed the last bundle of papers. Her hands shook as she read what they were and turned her surprised eyes to his. “Why?”

The poltergeist’s light brows rose and he gave her a look of you really have to ask, but answered her anyway “She is my kid after all and it would make sense that I would want it to be legal in the mortal world.”

Lydia didn’t know how she felt about all this. It was not what she had expected. Hell, he was not what she expected. Just who was this man she now called her husband? She shook her head and set down the adoption papers with the rest.

“Ya done Babes?” He asked her, while cocking his blonde head to the side.

She gave him a quick bob of her head and Betelgeuse snapped his fingers, making the papers disappear. He then turned to look at the watch on his inner wrist and stood up, snapping his fingers once again and changing into his striped suit. He made his way to her and bent down to give her a quick kiss on the cheek, before straightening. “Well Babes, work calls. I’ll be back later tonight.” He made his way to Lucy, kissing her on the head and ruffling her already messy hair. “I’ll be back kid. You be good for your mama.” Lucy just babbled wildly and giggle up at her new father. He let out a laugh of his own, before winking out of sight.

Lydia’s eyes lingered on the spot where he had just been and reached up to graze the place where his cool lips had landed. The skin tingled under her finger tips and she couldn’t help the twitch of her lips and the bubble of laugher that spilled from her smiling mouth. That man was always catching her off guard and throwing her for a freaking loop. He definitely was not what she expected and the more she learns about this man, the more she questions what she really knows about him. Just who did she marry and what the hell did she get herself into?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you are all liking my take on Betelgeuse. I always thought there was more to the dead man, than all of his crude and obnoxious behavior. I really want to show that Betelgeuse is capable of caring for someone other than himself. Sure, he is a right selfish prick, but once he cares for something he does it with every fiber of his being. 
> 
> As for my story, I'm trying to keep the focus on the family dynamic, along with the ups and downs that come with it. There will be drama, but nothing crazy or significant. I will also have sexual content, since it is a healthy and realistic occurrence in a relationship and it just doesn't feel right to leave it out. Also, if you all haven't noticed, there will be a good amount of swearing throughout this fic. I cannot be held responsible for what my twisted and depraved mind comes up with. Expect some dirty things to transpire when the mood calls for it. XD
> 
> If you enjoyed the chapter, please feel free to leave me a review. I like to know how my readers are enjoying my work. Plus I'm human, I like the ego stroke...
> 
> Oh yeah, Happy Halloween!!! Stay safe and if you come across a creeper creeping, kick 'em in the nuts or hooha. Chicks can be creepers too!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with the Beetlejuice franchise and co. nor do I make any money from this. I only like to use them for my own twisted amusement
> 
> -I wanted to wait a little longer, but I have no freakin' self-control and had to post this. I think I just want everyone to enjoy my story as much as I do. <3 <3 -

Two months had passed like a flash for the unique little family and surprisingly they had ended up getting into a routine of sorts. It seemed that the poltergeist was truly a creature of habit and clearly didn't mind routine as long as he had his freedom.

So, when Betelgeuse wasn't 'working' and Lydia thought that loosely, because she really didn't know what the poltergeist did and to be honest, she didn't want to know; He was helping her take care of Lucy. The young mother had to admit that he wasn't that bad of a husband and pretty decent father. The dead man always had their daughter within his grasps and Lucy seemed to prefer it that way as well. As soon as she would see him, she would fuss until she was in his arms and be glued to his side until she fell asleep. It would be obvious to anyone who observed them that they had a very strong and close bond and that warmed Lydia's heart immensely every time she watched them.

Another part of their routine was their eating schedule and that was one that Lydia had never thought they'd be doing, especially with the way her family had been growing up. Lydia had seen more take out boxes, than she had homemade food. Maybe that was why she got into that routine to begin with. Maybe she wanted her family to be different, hell they were different. So that why every morning she would get up and make them all breakfast, then Betelgeuse would leave for work and pop in later for lunch, then go back to whatever he had been doing until dinner time. In a weird way, it worked for them.

The last of their routine was after dinner, where they usually ended up in the living room watching either a tv show or some kind of movie. Most of the time, Lydia would be curled up on the couch with a blanket, while Betelgeuse sprawled out in his worn chair with Lucy sleeping soundly on his chest.

Tonight, was just like any other night for the little family. After some debate, they ended up watching some raunchy comedy that she would never have given a chance to, but she had to admit that it was quite funny. Not that she would tell him that. The dead man's ego was large enough as it was, it didn't need any more inflating.

Next to her the phone sprang to life and Lydia quickly reach over to answer it. "Hello?"

"Lydia, Pumpkin! How are you and my granddaughter doing?" Her dad's voice echoed in her ear.

A smile sprang forth, as she heard the warm tone of her father. She really did miss him, even if he was a little high strong at times and let her stepmother boss him around the majority of the time. "Hi dad. We're both doing great. How are you and Delia? How's Barbra and Adam?" she asked her dad, as she heard Betelgeuse say something loudly like Hiya Chuck. She glared at her husband and he shot her that obnoxious grin of his. Oh, he just loves that she hasn't told her family about them being married yet and has been bugging the shit out of her about it for as long as they have been hitched. She covered the receiver with her hand and whispered to him sharply "It's not funny asshole. Knock it off."

He just continued to grin and turned back to the movie, purposely laughing noisily at the funny parts. She gave the dead man the evil eye and returned to her conversation that she wasn't even listening to. From what she could gather, everyone was fine and dandy. She talked to her dad for a couple more minutes, until work called and he had to let her go.

Once she said goodbye and hung up the phone, her obnoxious jerk of a husband spoke up from his chair. "When ya gonna tell them about us, Babes? It's already been two months and it's just gonna get longer."

She glared at the man once again and crossed her arms under her chest, her tongue heavy with frustration and sarcasm. "I have already told you that I will. I just have to find the right time. It's not like they have the greatest track record with you. You know with you terrorizing them and all."

The poltergeist let out a loud huff and popped out of sight for a few minutes, only to come back childless and with a long neck in his hand. "You don't have to get all bitchy about it, Sweets."

"I'm not getting bitchy about anything and I'm not going to debate about this again." She turned her attention back to the tv, trying to get back into the movie and ignoring her obnoxious husband.

He let out a snort and took a swig of his beer. "Why does it have to be a debate? I ain't debating sweetheart, I'm pointing out the motherfuckin' facts. I'm your husband and the father of your child. You're gonna have to tell the in-laws, cuz if they come for a surprise visit, I'm sure as hell not gonna leave my home to hideout somewhere!"

Her eyes didn't leave the screen, even though he was ruffling her feathers, while she spewed her heated words back at him. "Who said you had to leave if they did visit? I sure as hell didn't!"

"You sure about that babes." He shot back from his chair, sarcasm clear in his tone.

Lydia growled from the couch and return her glare to him. "Of course, I wouldn't ask my husband to leave our home. You know I wouldn't do that, quit being an asshole."

"Babes, I'm only an asshole, cuz you don't like what I'm tellin' ya. Hell, what I've been tellin' ya. Not that ya listen to me, ya stubborn woman!"

"Ha! I'm stubborn, says the man who won't back off of his wife!"

"Damn right I won't back off about this! You're my wife and lil bug is my kid. I don't want anyone comin' in here and tryin' to take that away. She's mine and so are you!" He sneered and gave her a glare of his own, before taking another long draw from his long neck.

What, now they were his possessions? He did not own them, the fucking dillhole! She stood and hissed hotly at him as she made her way to the kitchen "We're not your fucking possessions, damnit!"

Lydia stomped to the sink and began to fill the it with hot soapy water, tossing in the dishes a little too hard, while she muttered every curse word that she could come up with as she watched the basin fill.

The angry and irate woman stiffened when her husband slid up behind her and his arms caging her between the sink and himself. His smoky voice and cold breath hit the shell of her ear, causing a hot shiver to shoot down her back. "You're not my FUCKIN' possessions. You're my wife and she's my kid. I'll do what I think is best to keep you both fuckin' safe."

She turned off the water, then somehow twisted around so that her chest was flush with his own, her hot glare peering up at him. "And my parents would do that?"

He leaned in and growled "Fuck yeah they would, Sweetheart! Them and those goody goodies! I won't have anyone dead or alive comin' between us. Fuckers, thinking that they know what is fuckin' best for us, when the bitches don't know shit!"

A frown appeared on her face and her anger disappeared as fast as it came. "Betelgeuse, I wouldn't let them, you know that, right? You are my husband and I am on your side." She had taken vows with this man, she would honor those promises and stay faithfully by his side, just like he was doing with her.

The dead man in front of her let out a sigh of frustration, as he cupped her cheek tenderly and touch his forehead to hers. "I may be a loose fuckin' cannon and dangerous as all hell, but I'd never hurt either of you. No matter what any one of those assholes say, I'd never do that. Not to you and definitely not to Lucy. You're fuckin' safe with me. You'll always be safe."

She let out a frustrated sigh of her own, her tone softening now that she was no longer angry "I know you wouldn't hurt us. You are a good husband and father, Betelgeuse. All you have done from the start is take care of us."

His cool thumb ran slowly across her bottom lip, as he pulled away to stare in her coffee colored eyes. She could clearly see him internally debating over something, then she heard him whisper to himself "Fuck it." In a flash he was moving swiftly in and capturing her mouth roughly with his own. She didn't hesitate to kissed him back with the same fervor, as she threw her arms carelessly around his neck.

Quickly the heat between them spread like a wild fire and they both found themselves stumbling to the closest flat surface. Before either one of them knew it, she was flat on her back on the kitchen table, her night shirt pulled over her thighs and her panties drawn to the side to give her husband ample room to slide into her heated cord. Her tiny hands gripped desperately at the edges of the table and she fought the blush and a moan that wanted to spring forth from all of the dirty things the poltergeist was whispering in her ear, as he moved inside of her with the same rate that their passions were blazing.

It had been both fast and furious and it had left Lydia coming harder than she ever had in her life. She felt herself tightening around him and it didn't take him long to follow her. He moaned lowly in her ear as he came with the same intensity as she had, "Fuck Babes…Just fuck…"

His forehead rested against her own and they both laid in each other's embrace for some time, before the poltergeist made the first move to haul himself up so that he was hovering above her. He was grinning from ear to ear and his green eyes blazed brightly, as he let out a wolfish whistle. "Well hell, Sweets. I was not expecting that."

A giggle fell from her puffy lips and nodded tiredly in agreement "So not expected, though I think we both needed a little destressing."

"Shit Babe, you destressed me alright." He gave her a wink and she giggled some more, before pushing him off of her. After they both righted their clothes, Betelgeuse gave her another wink and a laugh bubbled forth, as he grabbed at her night shirt and tugged her to him. "Babes, how about we go destress some more?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her and she leaned up on her tiptoes, brushing her lips lightly against his, her hot breath hitting his cool ones "Okay." Another giggle sprang out of her, as she quickly retreated from his form and hurried to the doorway.

The poltergeist adjusted himself in his pajama pants and groaned "Well fuck me." Lydia paused at the doorframe, tilting her head over her shoulder and giving him a saucy smirk "Baby.." Her eyelashes fluttered and her voice dropped to a low and sensual lilt "that can be arranged…"

For a few seconds he was taken back by his tiny wife's forwardness, but quickly bounced back to his senses, giving her a predatory grin of his own and his tone smokier than before. "Is that so Babes…"

Her brown eyes widened as she watched his jade ones suddenly flash wildly and his grin broadening to that of a hunter hunting his prey. It caused a shiver of excitement to run through her and a sharp squeak of surprise to leave her lungs as her instincts urged her to hightail it away from this dangerous man.

Betelgeuse slowly stalked towards her, his pearlescent skin seemed to glow brighter with each closing step. Another squeal of surprised left her and she felt herself matching his steps with backward ones of her own. His grin became even wider, clearly amused by her actions, but never pausing in his pursuit. He watched his prey become twitchy, a sure sign that she was about to bolt and a barking laugh exploded from him, as his hand shot out just as she was ready to flee. He quickly drew her him and crashed his mouth to hers, before swiftly blinking them both out of sight.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -I told you that I couldn't be held responsible for what my twisted little mind comes up with, though the interaction between Betelgeuse and Lydia were dead (ha) on with what I had in my head for this chapter.
> 
> :) I want to give a big shout out to all of you that have left a review, you rock and I am so glad you are liking my interpretation of Betelgeuse and his relationship with Lydia.
> 
> Oh before I go I would like to recommend a Betelgeuse and Lydia webcomic, it's called Cobweb & Stripes. It's a really good story and the art is unique and refreshing. It's not done, but the artist does update every Sunday with a new panel. If it's something that you may be interested in, you can find it here cobwebandstripes. deviantart. com ️ -just take out the spaces.
> 
> Well as always I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and please drop me a review. -


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Beetlejuice franchise and co. nor do I make any money from this. I only like to use them for my own twisted amusement and that is payment enough.
> 
> \- Just a short filler with Lydia's thoughts and some more interaction between the couple, also with a small splash of the reality of parenthood. Kids always do have the damnedest timing :) -

 

 

Lydia scrubbed at the dirty cup in hand, as she thought on the events that had transpired last night. Her and Betelgeuse had sex and a lot of it might she add. It really shouldn't have surprised her with all of the sexual tension her and the poltergeist had been smoldering over for the last two months. It was only a matter of time before it ignited into a roaring fire and boy did it burn.

Her cheeks flushed with color and a groan flew out of mouth as she shifted on her feet, causing her sore thighs to ache. In all of her experience with having sex, never had she been contorted into so many positions in one night. To be honest, never had she ever had sex all night either. Living males tend to have a limit and sad to say that her past two sexual partners had cared more for their needs than hers and had a one-time limit. Apparently, her ghostly husband didn't have a limit and could go as long as he wanted to. No wonder he was so full of himself, he knew exactly what he was capable of between the sheets. He also had other brag worthy assets and she was surprised that he didn't crow about it as well.

Cold lips gently kissed her neck, causing the distracted woman to jump and drop the dish back into the soapy water. His deep chuckle shook her as he bent down to whisper in her ear "Good mornin'."

Her cheeks flushed with more color, as his lips traveled up her throat and lightly brushing along her sensitive lobe, earning a throaty moan and pleasurable jolt to her already throbbing core. "Betelgeuse…" she whined as his large hands grabbed her waist and spun her around to face him. Leaning his blonde head towards her own, she watched as his rugged face came down and caught her lips. She kissed him back with the same intensity that he was showing her and hastily flung her arms around his neck, while he shoved her back against the sink.

When he finally pulled away, his fingers reached up and brushed the tips lightly across her cheek, before his hand cupped her jaw and his thumb ran along her bottom lip. "How ya feelin', Babe?"

She leaned into his touch and gave him a small smile "A little sore, but nothing I can't handle."

He leaned in again, his lips just hovering over hers as he spoke "Good, cuz there's some things I forgot to show ya last night." His grin turned wolfish, when her lips parted and her breathing hitched, while her face flushed even more. He trailed slowly from her parted lips to her ear, his husky voice washing over her. "Plus, baby, I wanna see how many times I can make it rain."

Lydia felt her legs tremble and the throbbing in her core magnified. Holy fucking shit, she had never been so turned on by just mere words. Her blush spread from her face, moving quickly down to her chest and before she could open her mouth to respond to his heated words, a sharp squeal resounded throughout the room, causing both adults to wince and turn their attention to the table. Hazel eyes looked brightly at them, as her little hands hit the top of her high chair tray, clearly telling her parents to pay attention her and get her some breakfast.

A flustered Lydia quickly stumbled out of her husband's embrace and could have sworn she heard him groan and mutter under his breath something like, "Great. My own kid is cockblockin' me."

Smothering a giggle and shaking her head in amusement, she made her way to the oven where she had stored the food that she made earlier to keep it warm. Turning it off, Lydia grabbed some oven mitts and pulled out the heated food. She kicked the door shut with her foot, then turned and made her way to the table.

While Lydia had been grabbing the food, Betelgeuse had grabbed Lulu's bowl of cut up bananas and her sippy cup from the fridge and was dumping the fruit onto her tray and sitting her sippy cup so that it was within her reach. Once done, the poltergeist sat down and juiced two full coffee mugs, one in front of him and another in front of the place where Lydia always sits. Picking the cup in front of him up, Betelgeuse took a long draw as his still heated gaze watched her every move.

Lydia felt heat rush to her cheeks again and she tried not to make eye contact with the man. God, she was just getting hot from him looking at her. She placed the food on the table and then sat in her designated seat. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw his tongue dart out and slowly licked away a droplet of coffee that had been left on his lips, causing her to flush more and sending another jolt of pleasure straight to her core. Lydia swore once again that she saw the corner of his lips twitch up in amusement, as if he knew exactly what he was doing to her. She couldn't help, but think that her skilled husband most likely did and the sneaky bastard was enjoying every moment.

Shaking her head and trying to ignore the subtle heated and smug expressions from her suggestive husband, as she went to dish up some food and fill her already grumbling belly. Lydia had a feeling she was going to need all the energy she could get. Really, what did she get herself into?


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with the Beetlejuice Franchise nor do I make any money from this. I only own the plot and Lucy and like to borrow the other character's for my own twisted amusement.
> 
> \- Happy Friday! This chapter is longer than the last, but still short. Next couple of chapters will be helluva lot longer than they have been, because there will be a lot of things going down and being resolved.-

 

After the shift in their relationship, nothing really changed for the married couple. Now they just had the occasional quickie while their daughter was napping to add to their daily repertoire and Betelgeuse seemed to be more hands on with her, though even before they were having sex, he had always touched her whenever it was possible. Who knew that the ghost with the most was such a touchy-feely kind of guy.

Currently the couple was stretched out in bed with a blanket draped over their hips, as the poltergeist lightly stroked his wife's side in lazy circles, while they basked in the silence.

Lulu, who was usually easy to put down, had been fussier than normal and it left the duo a little on edge. They just couldn't figure out what was causing their daughter's distress. Lydia thought that maybe they were coming down with something, it was the season for it after all and she couldn't ignore that she had started feeling slightly under the weather as of late.

The poltergeist broke the silence by whispering in his tired wife's ear. "Babe, why haven't you told them yet?" It was a simple question, but one that seemed to add to the already growing stress.

A long drawn out sigh left her and she turned around to face him, while giving him a 'not this again' look. For fuck's sake, why did he have to bring that up now? Didn't they have enough on their plate? How many times have they discussed this and how many times did it end up with them arguing? Damnit, she didn't want to argue tonight. Hell, she didn't want to argue with her husband period! "Betelgeuse please, I'm not going to get into this with you again. Are you looking for a fight?"

His pale brows rose and his hand left her side to raise in defense "I'm just asking a question that's all. I'm not lookin' for a damn fight, Sweets."

Lydia's face scrunched up in annoyance and her tone was sharper than she had intended "Then why did you bring it up?" She could see the tick in his jaw begin to flare, a sure sign that he was becoming irritated himself.

Betelgeuse sat up and stared down at her with a heated expression "We've been married for three fucking months now. Don't ya think it's about time that ya tell them about us?"

She shot back her response, clearly not understanding why this was such a big deal. "Why do you want them to know so badly?"

"Why the fuck not?" He sneered down at her in return and the tick in his jaw increasing with each passing minute.

Lydia didn't want to fight and she really didn't want to have this fucking conversation again. Didn't he understand how badly the situation could go? She wasn't sure how her family was going to react to the news. Hell, the months after the incident with the Bio-exorcist and the sham of a wedding, both couples had made it clear about their feelings for the poltergeist. None of those feelings were warm and welcoming.

The nauseous feeling that she had been experiencing lately had returned with a vengeance, causing the tiny woman to feel like she was about to get sick. Oh no, she needed some air and maybe a little space to try and clear her head. Lydia turned away from her upset husband and threw back the covers. She quickly got out of the bed, grabbing her robe and throwing it on, before padding out of the room. She could hear Betelgeuse swearing loudly, either to himself or to her, she wasn't quite sure.

Making her way down the hallway and to the French doors of the screened in porch, she flipped the lock and stepped out into the cool air. Turning around, Lydia quietly closed the door, then went to one of the windows to stare out at her darkened yard. She sucked in several deep breaths, wrapping her arms around her middle and trying hard to fight off both the nausea and the sudden urge she had to cry. Liquid welled up in her tired eyes, causing her to blink them rapidly to try and force them away. She took several more breaths, but it still didn't chase away the overwhelming emotion she was feelings and the unwanted tears slid down her face. Why was she feeling like this? Was it the stress or the lack of sleep? Why was she being so emotional? Damnit, what was wrong with her?

The door behind her softly opened then closed and the heavy footsteps of her husband echoed on the wooden boards as he quietly approached her. She felt her husband snag her waist and draw her back, so that she was resting against his chest, while he wrapped his arms underneath her own. His face buried into her raven mane, taking several deep breaths, before he pulled slightly away to console her. "Ssh…Baby…It's okay…fuck…don't cry." He kissed the back her head, then continued to talk "I didn't mean to make ya upset, Babe…I just…I need to know…" He hesitated for a second as if were struggling to find the right words. His tone was one that Lydia had never heard from the man ever, it sounded almost sad. "Sweets, are you ashamed of us? Is that why you don't want them to know?"

The question and the unexpected emotion behind it threw her off kilter and she could only cry harder. God, she was such a terrible wife. How could she make her husband think that she was ashamed of him, of them? It wasn't that at all. She was far from being ashamed and was actually proud to be this man's wife. Despite his awful reputation, he really was a good guy. Sure, he could be an ass and crude as hell, but he could also be caring and kind, though that really depended on who you were. Through her tears she let him know that being ashamed wasn't the case. "I'm not ashamed of us, not one bit. That's not it, not at all."

He slowly turned her around to face him, his forehead rested against hers, as he gently began to question her. "Then what is it, Baby?"

She clung to the poltergeist and sighed, her voice small and soft "I'm afraid." Fuck, she was straight up terrified.

He pulled back so he could look into her dark eyes and continued to lightly push her for answers. "Afraid of what, Sweets?"

She sniffled lightly and slightly bit at her trembling lip, before she resumed "I'm afraid of how they will react. They've made it bluntly clear that they don't like you, hell, its damn right hostile at times…I…I just want them to really like you, you know like I do!"

A deep sigh released from him and he let go of her waist, moving his large hands up to cup her face. "Babes, I know that they don't like me. I have no fuckin' delusions about that, but I didn't marry you for their approval. If they can't handle that shit, then that's their loss. The important thing here baby, is that I make you happy and you make me happy. All the other shit is just superficial and fuckin' insignificant."

She looked up at him with a sad gaze, her tone dropping even softer than before "What if they no longer want to speak to me?"

At the sight of her sad expression, her husband's eyes hardened, and his tone sounded angry "If they do somethin' like that, then they're bunch of fuckin' hypocrites and don't deserve ya." His hand moved to the back of her head and tugged it gently to his chest, while he kissed her crown.

Lydia closed her eyes and took in a breath, as she thought about what her husband had just said. She knew he was right; That there was nothing that she could do if they did decide to disown her. Her face flushed with embarrassment from her ridiculous behavior and buried her face within his shirt. She was acting like such a child. Christ, what was wrong with her? She pulled her face back and tilted her head up, so that her dark brown eyes met the jade ones of her husband, while a frown slid across her lips. "I'm sorry I got so shook up, Honey. I know that you didn't intend for that to happen. Damnit, I'm not sure what's wrong with me. I just haven't been feeling very good. I think I might be coming down with something."

He let out another sigh and shook his blonde head "Naw, I shouldn't be pushin' ya, babe. I know you will tell them when you're ready. I'll try to keep my hang ups to myself, sweets, but I can't always promise. I've been told I can be an ass."

"Yeah, you are, but I like you even when you are being an ass." She yawned loudly and shivered from the cool night air.

Betelgeuse hold tightened around her waist, while slowly moving them to the entrance. "Come on Babes. Let's go back to bed. If you ain't feelin' good, you shouldn't be out here to begin with. Shit, it's colder than a witch's tits out here." Letting out a small laugh, she just wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled up to his side, as he led her back into the warm house.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -I know that they had a fight about this already, but like anything that doesn't get resolved, well, it keeps popping up until it does, especially if it is bothering one of the people involved and if you all couldn't tell, it clearly had been bothering our resident poltergeist. Poor Betelgeuse. :( 
> 
> Well, I needed this chapter to move to what is going to happen in the next chapter and where I want the plot to go.
> 
> Like I have said before, I do love writing Betelgeuse and Lydia's interactions with one another and the mundane things in life. There's not going to be a big ole baddy to deal with, but there will be shit that can happen in everyday life; Drama from raising a kid, dealing with family and just life itself. Betelgeuse wanted to be in the mortal world and I'm giving it to him.
> 
> Okay, not the next chapter, but the one after that will have more Lucy interaction, especially with Betelgeuse. I cannot wait to share that with everyone. It is just too freaking cute. I really enjoy giving the rough poltergeist a soft side. XD I like making him all warm and gooey, then have his mouth still dirty as hell.
> 
> Well, I hope you all liked this chapter and please leave a review to let me know.
> 
> Have a good weekend!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Beetlejuice franchise nor do I make any money from this.
> 
> -I was going to wait until Friday to post this chapter, but today is my birthday and I'm in a good mood, so I thought I'd share.-

 

 

The next morning was like any other morning for the tiny family and no signs that the couple had even argued the night before. The young mother made breakfast like usual, then her husband took his leave with a kiss and a wink.

After Betelgeuse had gone, Lydia had cleaned up their messy little girl and then went about her daily morning routines. About an hour before noon, she found herself carrying a basket of clean clothes into the living room and dropping her butt on the couch. Setting the basket next to her, she turned to the side table to grab the remote to change it to another kid's show that didn't want to make her throw up the last of her breakfast. Her gazed slid over the table and halted on the phone.

The fight and the conversation from last night came to the forefront of her mind and she wondered if it wouldn't be better to just call her family and get the shit over with. She bit her lip and weighted her options; either they would be upset, or they wouldn't be? Plus, even if they did end up being mad at her, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Sure, she would be hurt, but she would have her husband to help cushion the fall. Her dark eyes closed for a second, then sucked in a few calming breaths, as she thought about her poltergeist and his words. Betelgeuse had been right when he said that all that mattered was that they make each other happy and all the rest was insignificant. If her family couldn't respect the way her life was heading, then they didn't deserve to be in it.

Okay, well hell, she was going to do it. She was going to call and tell them. Dear someone, please help her… Reaching over, she picked up the phone and with shaky fingers, dialed her parent's number. Her heart slammed against her chest, as her hand became clammy, while she waited for someone to pick up. The phone rang in her ear once, twice, and by the third ring, the familiar voice of her stepmother came on the line. "Hello Deetz residence, Delia speaking."

Lydia felt her throat tighten, and she struggled to speak. "H…h…hi Delia. Um…could you get Dad and the Maitlands? I…have something that I need to tell you guys." She knew that she wouldn't be able to hear the ghostly couple over the device since they weren't strong enough to make contact via the phone, but she wanted them there, nonetheless. It felt wrong to just tell her parents and not her ghostly ones. They deserved to hear it from her own mouth and not from Delia or her fathers.

On the other side of the phone, she could hear the panic that had taken over Delia's tone when she spoke next. "Lydia dear, what is it that you need to tell us? Did something bad happen? Are you and Lucinda, okay?"

Her nerves were quickly replaced with slight irritation as her stepmother ignored her request. For fuck's sake, she just wanted to get this over with! The need to snap at the woman was great, but Lydia bit her tongue and tried to move the conversation along. "We're okay, I promise. I just have something that I'd like to tell you guys all together. It is quite important though, so could you go and get them please?"

Her stepmother seemed to hesitate for a second, as if she were going to push for more just like Delia always like to do, but instead she quietly agreed. "If you're sure that you're okay, then I'll go get them. Just let me transfer you to your father's office."

Lydia appreciated the worry, but her and Lulu were good. Hell, they were more than good. "Okay, thanks."

The clicking sound of the changing of lines came then went. Suddenly her father came on the line and called out to her. "Hello? Lydia? You there, pumpkin?"

Hearing her father's voice seemed to calm some of her nerves and she relaxed slightly. "Hey dad. How you been?"

"I'm good. I just been busy with work and helping Adam with his model. Oh, Delia has me on a new diet to help lower my blood pressure and…." She heard Delia cut him off and snap at him lightly, telling him to put the phone on speaker so that they call could hear her. She heard the pressing of buttons, then her father's voice was back "Can you hear us, pumpkin?"

"Yeah, I can hear you just fine."

Delia's voice sprang out from the speaker and cut to the chase "Now Lydia my dear, what was it that you wanted to tell us?"

The nerves that had died down, began to flare up again and caused Lydia to swallow roughly, before continuing "Well…you see…um…I got married…" There she said it and it was like a ton of bricks lifted from her shoulders. Wow, why didn't she do this before? Hmm…Her husband had been right…She wouldn't tell him that, though. No, she didn't need him gloating around the house and gloat he would.

Suddenly there was a lot of yelling on the other side of the line, causing Lydia to pull the phone away from her ear and cringe. Her irritation reared its ugly head once again, and she had bite back the urge to snarl at them. Shit, they didn't need to fucking yell. "WHAT! WHEN? WITH WHO?"

It was Delia's worried voice that asked her the question she knew they would ask. "Lydia Deetz, you didn't marry him, did you?" Lydia knew when Delia said him, she meant Luke. After the incident, Delia refused to address her ex by his name and she said he didn't deserve her respect for what he did her kid and grandbaby. That was another time that Delia had shocked her with her words.

Lydia sighed and answered her worried stepmother. "No, I didn't marry Luke and um...it's Geist now, not Deetz..."

"Geist? What kind of last name is that? Just who is this man that you married?" Delia's voice shot out again and Lydia knew she couldn't tell them that she had married the poltergeist that had once terrorized the family, especially over the phone. It just didn't feel right to blurt something like that. She had enough respect for the both of them to know that they deserved the truth in person.

"Have we met him before, pumpkin?" She ignored her stepmother's questions and answered her dad. "Yeah, you've met him before briefly, though it was a long time ago. We've been seeing each other for some time now." So, she skirted around the truth on this one. It wasn't a lie and it wasn't the full truth, but it would have to do for the time being.

Delia jumped in and asked another question. "Why the shotgun wedding? Are you pregnant?"

Pregnant? Where did Delia get that? Why does everyone think that if you have a quick wedding, then you must be pregnant. Sure, she hadn't been feeling good and was moody as hell, but that didn't mean she was pregnant. Her nauseous stomach rolled and Lydia paused in thought. No…that's not fucking possible…She couldn't be….Right? Oh shit, shit, shit, shit! She didn't need this right now, not when she is dealing with them. Her brain can only compute so much and she was at her limit. Lydia shoved her new revelation and her panic away and denied it, "No, I'm not pregnant and the marriage was a spur of the moment decision at the time."

"At the time? Just how long have you been married for?" Delia questioned sharply.

Okay, now was the time that it might get messy. She ran her small hand through her dark strands and hesitantly spoke. "Well…you see…we wanted to have time to get things settled before we told anyone. We've been married for three months now…"

"WHAT!" More yelling came over the line and Lydia winced. Seriously, would they stop with the fucking shouting?! She could hear them just fine without it.

The young woman once again pushed back her rising irritation and tried to smooth things over by admitting defeat and throwing herself to the wolves. "Sorry, I really am! I know that it was a long time to wait and tell anyone, but like I said, we wanted things to settle and have time to adjust. We would like to come and visit so you can all meet. I was thinking soon, if that is alright with you guys?"

The excited shout of Delia's came through the other line. Apparently, that was all it took for Delia to forgive her. "That sounds like a wonderful idea! How about this weekend? Would that work for you both?"

Lydia had no clue, but agreed anyway to speed up the conversation. "Yeah that should be fine. How about Friday at noon?"

The sound of Delia clapping her hands together echoed in her ear "Oh, that would be perfect. I'll make lunch for us!"

Umm…When did Delia start making lunch? When did Delia start cooking period? Lydia shook away the thoughts and hurried to answer her waiting stepmother. "Sure…" She needed to get off the phone before they realized that she never really told them anything about her husband. "Sorry to cut this short, guys, but Lulu seems to have woken up from her nap and is a little cranky. It was good talking to you all and we are sorry that we didn't let you guys know sooner. We will see you this weekend." They seemed to buy the excuse easily and let her go with no more questions, much to Lydia's surprise. "Okay pumpkin…" Her stepmother cut off her father like always "Lydia dear, we will see you this weekend at noon and don't be late." She said that they wouldn't be, then they all said goodbye.

She quickly hung up the phone and tossed it on top of the clothes in the basket. 'Oh my god.' Lydia thought to herself as she let out a ragged breath and fell back against the cushions. It was over with, well part of it was anyway. It would be easier to handle them in person and Betelgeuse would be there to help her. He would help her, right? Shit, he would behave himself, wouldn't he? Fuck, she really hoped so.

Her stomach rolled nauseously again, bringing her back to the thoughts she had pushed aside and ignored. She covered her arm over her eyes and bit her lip nervously. Pregnant? Was it possible that she was? Betelgeuse had never said anything, so she had never thought about using any protection. She assumed that they were okay on that aspect. Shit he was dead after all. The dead couldn't reproduce, right? Another sigh left her, and her stomach rolled some more. Pregnant? Oh god, what were they going to do if they were? They haven't even been married for that long and Lucy was only 8-months-old. Shit! Would he be pissed? Would this be too much for him? Would he want to leave? Her stomach continued to churn as she worried about how she was going to tell her husband and what the poltergeist would do.

Lydia wasn't sure how long she had sat there for, but it must have been for some time because she heard her husband's voice calling for her from the kitchen. She quickly sat up and silently cursed herself. Damnit, she had forgotten about lunch. The sudden urge to cry slammed into her and she buried her face in her hands. Ah crap. Here was the roller coaster of emotions again.

"Babes?" She heard her husband come into the room and the sound of his heavy boots slapping against the wooden floor as he drew closer.

Once the poltergeist got to his clearly distressed wife, he knelt down and pulled her hands away from her face, his tone infused with concern "Baby? Hey, what's wrong?"

Tears pooled in her brown eyes, as her lip quivered and she debated on which subject she should go with first. Yes, her parent and the visit were important, but not as important as the possibility that she could be pregnant. "I…" Swallowing thickly, she struggled to carry on. "I think… I might…" She hiccupped and cried some more, as she continued. "be pregnant…"

The poltergeist froze, his mouth dropping open for a few seconds, before he shook his blonde head and questioned his little wife. "Come again, Babes?"

She tried to repeat her words through the tears and the sniffling. "I…think…I…might…be…pregnant."

"Pregnant?" Betelgeuse parroted back to her, but said nothing else as he stared at her in shock.

She shook her raven head and peered at her stunned husband, confirming his words. "Yes, pregnant."

He blinked at her and copied her one more time "Pregnant?" Nodding her head, she just replied with another confirmation in a hushed voice "Yeah…Maybe…" Several minutes passed and Betelgeuse still hadn't said anything back. He just continued to stare blankly at her as if his mind had crashed and required a reboot.

The mood shift that had so suddenly come over the small woman began to dissipate just as quickly, leaving her with red eyes, a stuffy nose, and a severely shaken husband. Worry started to settle over her, as she watched the unusually silent specter. Normally, she couldn't get this man to shut up and now, well he was quiet as the dead. Oh, the irony in that thought since the man in question really was deceased. Why was he being so quiet? Shit! Did she break her husband? Oh my god, did she just break the most powerful poltergeist by telling him that she might be pregnant? She pulled her hand from his and raised it to his face, whispering softly to him "Betelgeuse?"

His name seemed to snap him out of his shock and his focus turned back to her. He licked his lips and his Adam's apple bobbed as he struggled to swallow. "Pregnant?"

Relief washed over her, as he finally responded, but had to bite her lip when the only word to come out was the same word he kept repeating. The situation itself wasn't funny, but Lydia was beginning to see the irony in it. She couldn't help it, moments ago she had been just crying and losing her shit and all her spectral husband kept saying was the word pregnant. Lydia bit more of her lip to try and stop the amusement that wanted to surface, but failed miserably, when a bunch of giggles spilled violently from her.

The poltergeist watched as his wife suddenly broke out into a fit of laughter and soon found himself barking out a laugh of his own at absurdity of it all.

When they both settled down, Betelgeuse sat back on his heels and thought about what his little wife had told him. "So, you could be pregnant?"

Lydia ran her hand through her hair and answered softly. "Yeah. I didn't think about it until Delia had said something and the more I thought about it, well it does kind of fit. I haven't been feeling good and I've sure as hell been moodier than usual."

He snorted in agreement but didn't fall into the unintended trap. The poltergeist wasn't going anywhere near that shit and instead he commented on the part about her stepmother "So, you talked to Red?"

Oh shit. Did she say that she talked to Delia? Fuck, she did a Freudian slip. Well, she did need to tell him about it, so the slip of the tongue wasn't a bad thing. Sure, she had wanted to focus on one thing at a time, but she'll take what she can get. "Yeah I did…."

He cocked his blonde head and raised his brow at her, while his tone colored with curiosity "Whatcha talk about, babe?"

Oh, he was waiting for her to say something like nothing much and then he'd say, why didn't you tell them Babes? Ha this time she did, so he could go sit on it. "Actually, I told them that I got married."

He let out a whistle and grinned at her. "No shit, about fuckin' time. How'd they take it?"

They didn't have a meltdown, though that could still happen, they did still have the weekend after all. Her gut twisted, and she knew her husband wouldn't like what she said next. "Better than I thought, though…I didn't tell them who I married…"

His brow furrowed, and he frowned at her, while he slid a hand roughly through his hair. "Babe, Seriously, what the fuck?"

"I was going to tell them, but it just didn't feel right." She gave him a nervous smile and continued on "They did invite us this weekend and I told them that we would go. I thought it would be better to tell them in person. It's the right thing to do, Betelgeuse."

He didn't say anything for a few minutes, then he sighed loudly and reached out to tuck of a piece of hair behind her ear. "If that's what you want, babe, then we will go see the fams and tell them in person."

Her eyes lit up and she questioned him in surprise. "Really?"

Betelgeuse shrugged his shoulders, as he replied, "Why the hell not?" He then quickly broke out into a laugh, while rubbing his hands together in glee. "I can't wait to see their fuckin' faces when they see me. Do ya think I could borrow your camera, Babes?"

She stared at him, a frown and raised brows marring her features, as she shook her head. "No, you cannot, and you are going to behave, aren't you? Betelgeuse, I don't think I can handle any more stress. Not with them not knowing that you're my husband, Lulu being fussier than usual and the possibility that I could be pregnant…" She pointed to her stomach and bit her lip, while giving the poltergeist a pleading look.

A sigh of frustration sprang from him and he rubbed a hand over his face, before answering his tiny wife "Fine, I won't do any shit to them." Another sigh left him, while he forged on with his words "So, we should probably go get that test, right?" He gestured to her stomach. "To see if my kid is a brewin' in there."

Her hand rested on her belly and her gaze went from her husband to her churning stomach, as she shook her dark head in agreement "Yeah we probably should."

The poltergeist stood up and adjusted his suit as his gaze found hers "Okay sweets. I'll be back." He bent down to give her a kiss and then blinked out of sight.

Once her husband was gone, Lydia turned to where Lucy was and realized that she had fallen asleep while everything had been going on. She ran her hand through her dark hair, as she got up and moved to cover her daughter, then went to go make some lunch for them.

By the time that she had lunch on the table, her husband was back with a plastic bag in his hand. He lifted it and sneered at the bag "How many fuckin' types of pregnancy tests do you women need? Seriously, babe. Fuckin' ridiculous."

Her dark brow cocked, as he handed her the bag, then made his way to his waiting lunch. Lydia held the bag with both hands as she peered into it. As her husband stated, he had indeed gotten several different tests and some condoms. She pulled out the prophylactics and held them between her fingers. "Why do we need condoms?"

Betelgeuse looked up from his sandwich and grinned at her "That's for if we're not knocked up. You know safe sex and all that fuckin' jazz." He gave her a wink, while he bit into his sandwich and groaned in delight.

How could this man be so calm now, when not even a couple of minutes ago he had been the complete opposite? How did this man function? It was like the information was processed and now he was okay with it all. Was he not worried? Did he even care? Everything could change for them and here he was eating his lunch like it was a normal day. Seriously, what was going on in that head of his? Lydia rolled her eyes and shook her head as she dropped the condoms back in the bag and turned to go to the bathroom to take one of the many tests that the poltergeist had gotten.

Minutes later, while looking at the little white test now resting on the back of the toilet, she groaned at how long it seemed to be taking. 3 fucking minutes. It was feeling more like an eternity and staring at that damn stick wasn't going to make time move any faster.

She twisted around to leave the small room and jumped when she spotted her husband leaning lazily against the now open door. When the hell did he come and How did he get the door open without her hearing it? What was he now, Houdini?

His gruff voice reverberated throughout the room as he spoke "How long do ya have to wait, Babe?"

She crossed her arms under her chest and huffed in exasperation "3 minutes."

"And how long has it been?" Was he trying to irritate her? Probably not, but it surly felt like it. She frowned in frustration and stomped her tiny feet. "A minute. One goddamn long and stretching minute!"

Betelgeuse's lips twitched quickly in amusement, before he motioned for her with a tilt of his head "Come here, baby."

A frown still marred her face, as she released a small sigh and made her way to her husband. When she reached him, his hand snagged out and grabbed her waist, pulling her flush to his chest. He grinned down at her and messed with his annoyed wife a little bit "Now it's probably been two minutes." Annoyance sparked in her eyes and she tried to pull away. "Not funny asshole!" The poltergeist laughed, then leaned down to rest his forehead against hers, as he spoke, "Hey seriously though, relax, sweets. No matter what that fuckin' stick says, we'll deal with it together. I'm not goin' anywhere, okay?"

Her annoyance disappeared as her husband went from aggravating to caring in a single stroke. Her tone losing its edge as she sighed in relief from his much-needed words. "Okay."

"Good. Now go check that damn test." He spun her around, pushing her towards the applicator and giving her ass a quick smack. She jumped at the contact and glanced over her shoulder to give her husband a glare, which he just returned with a grin and wink at her.

Releasing a sigh and a roll of her eyes, she turned back to the task at hand and made her way to the toilet. Her stomach twisted in nerves, as she gingerly picked up the stick. Looking down with shaky hands, she took in the results. 'Oh god.' She thought to herself, as she spied two little lines in the applicator. She was indeed pregnant. They were pregnant. Holy shit!

Her husband's voice came over her shoulder, causing her to jump once again and tilt her head up to see him peering over her body. "So, what do two lines mean, sweets?"

How was she supposed to tell him? Should she just blurt it out just like ripping off a band aide or…Oh, she knew exactly what she was going to say to her dear poltergeist. A smirk threatened to tease her lips as she batted her eyelashes innocently and responded with a hint of playfulness in her tone. "That we're not going to need those condoms…"

Seconds later, Betelgeuse's boisterous and rough laughter could be heard echoing throughout the house.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -So what do you think? I thought having a pregnant Lydia and a baby would be enough drama for the little family. Raising a kid is fucking tough, but throwing in a pregnancy in the mix makes it even more complicated. It is also fall and we all know that it's a big time for colds.
> 
> I have a question for you all. How do you think Neitherworld(Netherworld) is spelled? I've seen two different ways and I'm wondering which one is the correct version to use?
> 
> well I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and please don't forget to review. :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with the Beetlejuice franchise nor do I make any money from this.
> 
> -Since this week is Thanksgiving, I'm uploading this chapter early. Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving and for those who don't do Thanksgiving, well, have a good week! :) -

 

 

"Betelgeuse, we are not juicing to my parent's house." The obviously annoyed woman stood in the kitchen with both hands on her hips, as she shook her head at her husband sitting at the table.

The poltergeist's bottle green eyes turned up from his newspaper and gave her a pointed look with raised brows. "Why the hell not?"

A sigh fell from her pink lips, before she answered him. "I'm not that far along and we don't even know if it's safe for me and the baby. I don't want to risk it, Betelgeuse." She didn't mean to make it seem like his power would hurt them, but the truth of the situation was that she shouldn't even be pregnant. She didn't want to do anything that could jeopardize the pregnancy.

Betelgeuse set the paper down, clearly irritated with the assumption that his juice would hurt his wife and unborn child. His lips curved into a frown, as his tone heated slightly. "My juice is fuckin' safe, Babe. Ya know I'd never put either of you in danger." Letting out a huff, he made a point to remind her that she let him juice with their daughter all the time and she never said a lick to him about it. "You let me juice with Bug all the fuckin' time and she comes back in one damn piece just fine."

Running her hand through her raven locks, she let out another sigh and tried to unruffle her husband's feathers. "I know you wouldn't hurt us, honey, but I'm a little nervous." Hell, she was more than a little nervous. Her mind couldn't help but go to all of the things that could go wrong and there were a lot of things. She should have never started reading that damn pregnancy book. "A lot of things can go wrong in the first few months, Betelgeuse." She put a hand on her stomach, her tone dropping softly "I just don't want anything to happen to the baby." The pregnancy may have been unexpected, but it was most definitely not unwanted.

Standing up, the poltergeist pulled his nervous wife to him and hugged her tenderly. "Sweets, that kid of mine ain't goin' nowhere. You got nothin' to worry about, ya hear me?"

Her face buried into his shoulder and took in his earthy scent, before she pulled back a little to look at him with puppy eyes and a nod. "Yeah, I hear you, but I'd still feel better if we drove to my parents."

A sigh of resignation left the poltergeist and his expression softened at the sight of those damn puppy eyes his little wife was sending his way. "If it will make ya feel better, then we'll drive there, but under one condition, Babe."

She raised a black brow and asked what the man wanted. "And that would be?"

His green eyes twinkled in amusement and a sly grin slid on his rugged features. "I get to drive."

Lydia let out a snort, while shaking her head at the dead man. "I've heard about your driving, so no not happening." She was not letting this man behind the wheel, not after what Barbara and Adam had told her. How could she trust him to drive a real car, when the man couldn't even drive a toy one? Seriously, crashing into a goddamn fire hydrant.

His grin fell at his wife's rejection and he let out a cry of protest. "Awe come on, Sweets. That was a long time ago and I was under fuckin' duress."

Duress! HA! Who the hell was he trying to fool? Her brows went up once again and another snort rang from her. "Duress, my pregnant ass! You were pissed off."

The poltergeist's face clouded at the memory, then contorted into anger. "Damn right! That would've been one of my best if it hadn't been for those goody goodies"

Didn't he realize that if his plan would have gone the way he had planned it, the chance of them being like this might never have happened? Lydia's chest just hurt thinking about not being with this poltergeist. If it weren't for him, where would she be? Most likely dead, because there was a big chance that she would have still had her photographs shown at the same gallery and she would have still met Luke.

She saddled closer to her husband, her hand resting on his chest, as she peered up at him with big doe eyes and a small frown marring her lips. "If it hadn't been for them, you most likely would have scared us off and there's a good chance that we wouldn't be here right now."

His large hand slid up to her cheek and cupped it tenderly, as he spoke with such utter confidence coloring his tone. "Naw, if you'd had run, I would have found ya."

Lydia leaned into his touch and questioned her confident husband with a smile playing on her lips. "Oh yeah, why is that?"

Betelgeuse flashed his beautiful wife a blinding smile. His voice dropping low and huskily, while moving his face closer to her own so that he was staring into her dark eyes. "Cuz Babe…You had my attention."

His words caused a rush of happiness to consume her and a silly smile to grace her lips. She should have known that she had caught his attention, after all, he had wanted to marry her. Granted, a huge part of that had been for his freedom, but maybe on a subconscious level it had been more. Her lashes fluttered, and she gave him a flirty grin, as she spoke. "Do I still have your attention?"

The poltergeist's eyes flared with heat and he gave her that predatory grin of his, as he ran a thumb along her bottom lip. "All the motherfuckin' time, Baby." He swiftly leaned in and kissed her soundly, before pulling back and wiggling his brows and giving her another grin.

A laugh broke out of her, as her cheeks warmed, and her hand grasped onto his clothed chest. What could she say? When this man kissed her like that, well, she can't help the giddy feeling bubbling up inside of her. "Fine, you can drive." She knew he would never intentionally hurt them, and it was ridiculous to rely on something that happened in the past. So, she caved and waited for her husband to crow loudly.

His face flashed with surprise, as he stared down at his small wife. "No shit?" His grin became even wider and kissed her again.

She drew back and laughed at the poltergeist, as she pointed her finger and poked him in the chest "Yeah, but if you crash I'm kicking your ass."

"Deal Babes." He gave her a wink and then laughed, before kissing her once again.

The couple broke apart when a cry sprang out from the baby monitor resting on the table. Both parents turned to the monitor then back to each other, while the child's crying increased with every call for her father. "Daaaaaaadaaaaaaaa!"

"I guess that little nap didn't help her mood any." Lydia sighed to her husband, who nodded his head in agreement and released his hold on her.

He blew out a large breath, before stepping back and turning away from her to make his way quickly out of the room. She hurried to catch up with him and paused in Lucy's doorway to watch as her ghostly husband approached their upset daughter.

In a few steps the poltergeist was next to the crib and gesturing out to the sitting little girl, as he gently called to her "Come here, Bug."

Her watery hazel eyes look up at her father, while she crawled to him and said his name. "Daaadaaa."

Betelgeuse leaned in and snatched her up in his arms, cooing softly to her. "Sssh…I know kiddo. Daddy's here." He pulled her snuggly to his side, one arm holding her, while the other hand went to rub her back.

Her little lip wobbled, and she tugged on her ear, as she stared at her father and called out to him again. "Daadaa."

The poltergeist continued to rub his daughter's back, as he whispered to her. "Sssh…Daddy's here now." Lucy let out small whimpers, then rested her blonde head on his shoulder. More soothing words came from the rough poltergeist and unconsciously began to rock her back and forth. "Sssh…It's okay, Bug."

Lydia's gentle tone came filtering into the room, as she made her way to her husband and child. "I think she may be coming down with something."

"Hmm…Lil Bug hasn't been actin' like herself. It must be somethin'." His gaze drifting to his wife then back to their daughter, as he continued to sooth the cranky child.

Lydia's hand reached out and slowly stroked her daughter's head. "Do you think we should cancel? We can do it another time?"

Her poltergeist scoffed and turned his gaze back to hers. "You ain't getting out of this one babe. Lil bug will be fine and if she ain't better by the time we get there, then we'll quickly tell your folks and cut it short."

"If you think it's okay, then fine we'll go. Can you help me with the bags after you get her dressed?"

The poltergeist snapped his fingers and smirked down at his wife, while he moved around the room to get Lucy ready for the trip. "Done, Sweets. Now go get your coat and other shit on, so we can hit the road."

It must be nice to snap your fingers and get things done in a blink of an eye. That would be nice for when she can no longer see her feet. How many times while pregnant with Lucy did she have mismatched shoes on? A snort left her as she thought to herself. 'Too many fucking times to count.' "Wish I could do that?" She grumbled loudly to herself as she left her husband and child to go get the last of her things ready.

It took about an hour to drive from their place to her parents. By the time that they were driving up the winding driveway, their temperamental child had fallen asleep once again.

As they stopped in front of the house, Lydia turned to her poltergeist and gave him a serious expression, when she spoke. "Betelgeuse, remember you promised to behave."

He rolled his eyes, as he shifted the car into park and said drily, "Yeah, I remember. No scarin' no one. Wouldn't want to give daddy-in-law a good ole heart attack. I'll be good. I swear it Babe. Scouts honor." He made the hand gesture of the boy scouts to her, as he winked and bent around the seat to release and grab a sleeping Lucy from her car seat.

She snored loudly, while she opened her door and stepped out. "When have you ever been a Boy scout?"

Betelgeuse peered over the top of the car and smirked. "I've been many things, Sweets."

"I'm sure you have. You've been around for ages after all."

"That makes me older and wiser than."

"You got the old part right." She laughed as she approached the door, but was stalled by her husband's hand on her wrist.

His cool breath tickled her ear, causing a gasp from her and a chuckle from the devious specter. "Baby, that's not what you were saying early this morning as I was poundin' into that tight little pussy of yours. As I recall, it was don't fuckin' stop and harder Betelgeuse. I didn't hear nothin' about me being old."

Her face flushed with color as she did indeed remember their morning activity and the things she had said during the heat of the moment. There had been a lot more than just those two things to come out of her mouth. Her poltergeist seemed to draw out aspects of herself that she never thought was possible.

Lydia tilted her head back, so that she eyed her husband, while her pink tongue came out to lick her lips slightly as she purred at him. "Honey, I never said being old was a bad thing." She drew closer to his cool lips and coasted over them, as she continued. "Some things get better with time." Right before she was going to move in to touch their lips together, she pulled her body away from him and winked.

She heard him growl loudly as she made her way to the door. "Fuckin' tease."

"Only to you baby." She gave him another wink, before letting out a giggle and knocking on the door. When nobody came, Lydia opened it and stepped inside, calling for family "Dad? Delia?" She looked around the room and called some more "Barbra? Adam? We're here!"

Delia's voice floated out of a room, followed by the clicking of her heels, as she hurried toward them. "Lydia my dear, I'm coming!" Her stepmother came out looking down at the towel as she wiped her hands. When she finished, she turned up to look at the waiting couple and screamed bloody murder. The towel fell to her feet, as Delia scrambled backwards and her back hit the wall. She pointed a shaky hand at the poltergeist and stumbled over her words. "W…w…what is HE doing here?"

Before Lydia could open her mouth to respond, her father came rushing out of another room. At the sight of them, he let out a scream of his own, while making a beeline for his terrified wife.

Lydia watched as her parent eyed her husband in both terror and confusion. Well, this was going better than she had thought. She turned to her poltergeist, who was just grinning madly at the whole situation. Of course, he would be enjoying this. The dead man thrived on shit like this.

They heard the voices of Barbara and Adam from the staircase. "Charles? Delia?" The young mother and poltergeist waited for the ghostly couple to make their appearance. They watched as Barbara and Adam flew down the stairs, only to pause when the couple spotted the poltergeist.

Barbara's eyes enlarged than her mouth was open, and she was quickly yelling the specter's name. "Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse!"

The two scared couples waited on baited breath, but quickly released that nothing was going to happen when the poltergeist remained. Betelgeuse gave them all a huge grin, before speaking his thoughts "Sorry to disappoint you all, but that shit doesn't work anymore. I'm a free man. Well as free as a married man with a wife and kid can get, but free, nonetheless."

Lydia elbowed her husband in the stomach and turned to glare at him. "Gee, you make it sound like we are some kind of burden."

Betelgeuse scoffed and narrowed his green eyes at her "Woman, don't be puttin' words in my mouth. I didn't say shit about ya guys being a burden. You know I'm with ya cuz I want to be." His hand snagged out and pulled her to him, both forgetting about the other people in the room. "Now don't get your panties in a bunch. It's not good for you to get upset and it's most certainly not good for the baby, Babes."

Despite being scared and really confused, Delia was the one who question them. "Baby? What baby?"

Lydia gave Betelgeuse a pointed look, then turned to her family. Well…they were already upset. It couldn't get any more worse than this, so what the hell... "We're having a baby."

"WHAT!?" "But he's dead?" "How is that even possible?" The two couples yelled in unison and watched Lydia and Betelgeuse with a mixture of horror and shock.

"Oh, it's possible." A raspy voice cut in through the chaos and out of the shadows stepped the elderly case worker. "Geuse is a very powerful poltergeist and can do a magnitude of things. Though the power to reproduce is very rare and can only be achieved if the entity cares deeply for the one they are with." Her eyes flicked over to Betelgeuse, before going back to the others "I thought Geuse might have the ability, but I wasn't too worried since he only cares about one thing, Himself."

The poltergeist glared at the old dead woman and snarled at her. "Yeah, proved that shit wrong, now didn't I Junie?"

Juno just shrugged her thin shoulders and puffed on her lit cigarette "We will see about that."

Lydia felt a sudden burst of anger as she stared at the old woman and listened to her talk to her husband like the old bat knew what she was talking about. The tiny woman shook off her husband and stepped towards the elderly one. Who the hell did the stupid bitch think she was? Lydia gave her a glare and a snarl of her own. "What the hell does that mean, Lady? He may be a pervy asshole at times, but he has been nothing but good to Lucy and me. You all look at him like he's some kind of monster, but I've seen what live monsters can do and he is fucking far from it!" Lydia's throat tightened as she forged on "If it hadn't been for him, we would be dead. He saved us, even when he could have refused. He saved us because he wanted to!"

"He saved you because he wanted something from you." Juno cut in and Lydia turned a Betelgeuse like sneer in her direction. "I called him, because I fucking wanted something! I had known exactly what he wanted before I called him. I wasn't naïve to that. His offer had been marriage, and I accepted what he had offered. And you all want to know what, I don't regret it, not one single fucking bit. It was like destiny or some shit like that."

Betelgeuse let out a loud snort as he pulled his irate wife against him. "Hey Babes, that's my line."

She crossed her arms under her chest and huffed, while tilting her head up and looking him in the eyes. "Well I'm your wife, I can borrow your lines if I need them."

He tried to hide the amused expression that wanted to break through, as he kissed her temple and attempted to pacify his angry wife "Sure Sweets, anytime ya want." The poltergeist then whispered in her ear. "Seeing you go all bitchy mode on someone other than me was so fuckin' hot, Babes." Of course, he would think it was hot. Only her husband would find her bitchiness remotely sexy. Her anger washed away with the onset of her amusement. A giggle bubbled forth and she shook her head at the dead man, as he grinned down at her with wiggling brows.

A throat cleared, and all eyes were drawn to the young deceased woman. She gave them all a hesitant smile and motioned to an open doorway "Maybe we should take this to the sitting room, so we can get the full story on what is going on."

Everyone in the room shook their heads in agreement and slowly made their way to the sitting room, so the unexpected couple could explain just what the hell was going on.

Minutes later, they were all watching the new couple anxiously, as they waited for them to speak.

The poltergeist reclined back against the couch cushions, his sleeping child in one arm and his tiny wife in the other. Lydia gave her husband a nervous smile, which he returned with an encouraging smirk of his own and drawing her closer. She let out a sigh and rested her head on his shoulder as she spoke. "The night I called on Betelgeuse was the night Luke had broken into my home and tried to kill not only me, but Lulu as well."

The couple heard the intake of sharp breaths from the other occupants, but they didn't interrupt the young woman. "He must have planned the break-in, because he had cut the phone lines so I couldn't call for help. If I had known that, I wouldn't have run with the phone to the bathroom to hid and call the cops." Lydia buried her face in her husband's shirt and took in his earthy scent, before she pulled away and continued. "If I hadn't called on Betelgeuse, Luke would have killed us. I asked him to get rid of my problem and he did just that."

Barbara was the first one to speak "So, you called him, and the deal was struck. What do mean by get rid of? Did he…kill him?"

Lydia caught the dead woman's eyes and shrugged, then rested her head on her husband's shoulder. "Honestly I don't know what Betelgeuse did to Luke and I'm not going to ask either. All I care about is that he is gone and out of our lives."

Barbara turned to her husband and gave him a worried glance, before she went back to the young woman. The dead woman's husband cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up, as he spoke this time. "But Lydia, it's wrong to just murder someone, even if they do deserve it. You shouldn't be okay with it."

Delia spoke out while she sneered and sent a hot glare at the dead couple. "You say it's wrong, but I can't help but be thankful knowing that he will never hurt my daughter and granddaughter again." She shrugged her shoulders and sneered some more. "So, the rat bastard is dead. Good riddance. One less abusive asshole out there."

The poltergeist let out a bark of laughter and directed a smirk at his pissed off mother-in-law. "My thoughts exactly, Red."

Delia's head shot to the poltergeist and her eyes widened, but didn't say anything to the dead man. She just jumped nervously and went back to huddling in her husband's embrace.

Betelgeuse rolled his eyes at their jumpy and twitchy behavior. Seriously, he hadn't done anything yet, so why would he do something now? Plus, he promised his little wife and he wasn't about to back out on his word.

"What about Lucy? What are you going to tell her?" Adam questioned as he eyed the couple and waited for their response.

The poltergeist glared at the man, as he tightened his hold on his child and wife. "We ain't tellin' her shit. To Bug, I'm her daddy and that's the way it's gonna stay. She's my kid, not that Guttercunts!"

Barbara's lips twisted in displeasure and glared at the dead man. Her tone sounded patronizing as she spoke. "Yes, through marriage you are, but you're not her biological father."

The poltergeist's face contorted in fury and went to open his mouth to retort back, when Juno cut him off. "Actually, Geuse is correct. He is now that child's paternal parent. It's what you get when you marry a breather. Once you say I do, you take responsibility for any children that the breather has."

Betelgeuse sneered at the boring goody goodie and ground out his response. "I told ya the kid was fuckin' mine. Talkin' like ya fuckin' know what your fuckin' talkin' about. When we all know that you ain't been around long enough to know shit, you stuck-up bit…"

Lydia's loud yawn interrupted the pissed off specter and drew his attention from the young dead woman to the tiny woman in his arms. His anger seemed to melt away when his bottle green eyes landed on her and squeezed her to him, while he gently spoke to her. "Babes, You okay there? You gettin' tired or something?"

Her drowsy eyes stared up at him and gave him a weak smile, then yawned loudly again. "Yeah, I'm suddenly really sleepy." She yawned again and went back to rest her head on his shoulder. He lightly kissed the top of her head and asked her what she wanted to do. "You think ya want to take a nap, Sweets?"

Lydia nodded tiredly, as her heavy lids slid closed and her words slurred slightly. "Yesuuure." She yawned again and snuggled closer to her husband.

Betelgeuse snorted in amusement then turned his attention the other people in the room. "Well folks, I guess we have to cut the inquisition short, cuz my little wife says she wants a nap and a nap she'll get." He turned from them and shook his little wife, causing her to jump up groggily. "Come Babes. Let's get you and Bug to bed for a little bit."

Her husband helped her to stand and she pulled on his coat to draw his attention. His green pools met her chocolate ones, and she gave him wide puppy eyes, while her bottom lip went between her teeth. "Will you come and take a nap with us?"

He drew her into his arms, while he leaned in and kissed the top of her head softly, then quietly answered her. "Sure, Babe. If that's what ya want?

She nodded, as a drowsy smile graced her lips and her head went to rest against his chest. "I would like that very much."

The poltergeist kissed her head again and whispered just so she could hear. "Me too, Sweets."

Her gaze went to her family and offered them a weary expression. She wasn't sure how they were going to respond, since she knew that they wanted some answers. But the sudden wave of exhaustion had suddenly wiped her of her energy and all she wanted to do was get some rest. The young mother hoped that her family would understand and wouldn't try to stop them. She wasn't sure what her brash and vocal husband would say or do if they did. Most likely nothing good and they would probably be on their way home. "Sorry you guys, but I'm suddenly really tired. This pregnancy is already sapping my energy. Do you think we can talk about all this when I get up?"

Delia offered her pregnant step daughter a reassuring nod, while she eyed the poltergeist warily. "Sure, my dear, I gave your room a good cleaning, so the bedding is clean, and I set up Lucinda's crib as well. Go take a little nap to recharge and then we will talk." Her father bobbed his head in agreement with his wife. "Yes, like Delia said, go take that nap pumpkin. We can talk later."

Relief washed over the exhausted woman and she turned her gaze to her ghostly parents. They both gave her a nervous smile, though their eyes flicked to her husband and gave him a dirty once-over before their attention came back to her. Barbara sent her a soft and reassuring look, as she spoke. "Lydia, go take a nap, and we will talk to you in a little bit." Adam inclined his head in agreement and took his wife's hand. "Yes, go get some rest. We can finish this later."

Lydia threw them all another drained smile and lifted a tired hand to wave goodbye. Her husband, who to her surprise didn't say a lick to either couple; just led her out of the room and up the stairs to get some much-needed rest.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the family knows and seemed to have taken it better than poor Lydia had thought. I really enjoyed having Lydia come to Betelgeuse's defense and felt good to have her rip into Juno. I also enjoyed the interaction between Lucy and Betelgeuse. It seems Betelgeuse has fallen into the father role quite well. It's almost like it just comes naturally to him.
> 
> So what did you all think of the chapter? Please leave a review to tell me.
> 
> Also, thank you to all that answered my question.
> 
> Until the next update :) See ya!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Beetlejuice franchise nor do I make any money from this. I simply enjoy using the characters for my own twisted amusement.
> 
> -There will be a reference to Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. A cookie cutter family show from the mid 1950s. I'm sure you can guess who BG is referring that to.-

 

Betelgeuse waited until his exhausted wife's breathing slowed and indicated that she had fallen into the depths of slumber. Carefully, the poltergeist removed himself from the bed and turned back to pull the covers up and over his tired wife and child. His fingers brushed his woman's jaw line and bent down to give her soft lips a light kiss, then he moved to his tired Bug. He lightly brushed her light strands away from her face, then gently gave her forehead a kiss, as he pulled back and blinked out of sight.

The poltergeist suddenly reappeared right outside of the doorway of the sitting room and juiced himself a cigarette. If he was going to deal with these fuckers alone and rationally, he was going to need it. Hell, he was probably gonna need a beer after all this shit. Fuck, he should juice himself one now, though he was sure they'd bitch about it. Not that he gave a flying fuck what those bastards thought, but he didn't want them giving his little wife any grief. His wifey poo was already stressed about things that could possibly go wrong in the pregnancy. Nothing was going to happen not with his juice coursing through both her and his offspring, but she was nervous, nonetheless. He was damned if they were going to add to it.

Bringing the cig to his lips, he sucked in a deep drag of smoke, then released it. These assholes were more of a pain than they should be. You'd think that they'd be happy for his little woman. For fucks sake, she was happily married and expecting their next grandchild. They should be grateful that she was still breathing and not 6 feet under. Though now that he thought about it, he wasn't too thrilled that they left her unprotected against some abusive cunt. What the fuck were they thinking?! If someone did that to Bug, he would slaughter them. A sneer appeared on his features, as he glared at the room and began to walk into it. 'Let's get this shit over with.'

The poltergeist spied the two couples sitting across from one another, clearly discussing what his little wife and he had just spoken to them about. He also noticed that the old bat had disappeared. Probably had to go back to the Netherworld and deal with all those boring and whining stiffs. That's what fucking happens when you're on a short leash, you got to come when they yank.

Betelgeuse juiced himself a chair and turned it around, then straddled it with an arm bent on top of the back. His throat cleared, and he watched as the twosome ceased their conversation and turned to look in his direction. Both couples went from being comfortable to being nervous in a split second and the poltergeist couldn't help the smirk that played at his lips. 'Fuck yeah. Maybe this shits gonna be fun after all.' He thought to himself and the smirk on his face widened.

The amused man took another puff of his cigarette and leaned over the back of the chair. He released the smoke in their direction, before he started to speak. "Let's not drag this shit out. You all don't like me and to tell ya the truth, I don't like you all very much either." The cig went to his lips again and he pulled a long drag then continued "Unfortunately, Lydia does, and I don't want to upset my little pregnant wife. No need to be in the fuckin' dog house, cuz of you folks. So, I propose we make a deal. I'll be civil towards you all, if you're all willing to be civil towards me."

The poltergeist's green eyes traveled to the shocked faces, then went back to his father-in-law, when Chuck cleared his throat and for once, bravely voiced his opinion. The portly man shook like a leaf and stuttered his words. "I…I…I'm still not sure about you, but m…m…my pumpkin is, s…s…so….as long as you swear to treat m…m…my little girl and granddaughter right, t…t…then I'll agree."

Betelgeuse's features sobered and his tone held a serious edge, as he eyed his father-in-law. "I swear to it, Chuck. I will always take care of my girls."

"Now just wait…" His mother-in-law began to comment, but was quickly stopped by her husband. "Honey, she is clearly happy. If Lydia didn't want to be married to this man, you and I know that she wouldn't be."

"But Charles…" The stout man shook his head and gave his wife a stern look and a sharp tone. "No buts Dee. Let's leave it as it is." She let out a sigh and for the first time bent to her husband's wishes.

'Well hell, who would have thought that good ole Chuck had a pair?' Betelgeuse silently mused to himself, as his piercing eyes left his in-laws and traveled to the goody goodies, who were quietly talking amongst themselves. Babs looked over at him with hard eyes and her lips pinched together in disapproval. "I don't trust you."

Ooh, she didn't trust him. Boo fuckin' hoo. It wasn't like that was something new to him. He knew the stuck-up bitch distrusted him. She never had and most likely never will. Betelgeuse gave the dead woman a glare of his own, while he sneered at her. "Well that makes the two of us, cuz I sure as hell don't fuckin' trust you Babs. Seen any sandworms lately?"

She sent a cheeky grin his way, as she smoothed out her dress in her lap. "Want to find out?"

"As long as you know that you'll have to deal with my wifey, Babs and ya'll seen what she did to Junie. Well shit, that's just the tip of the iceberg." He smirked widely and took another drag of his cigarette. The haughty smutbag hadn't thought of that one when she was running her overly large mouth. If the bitch brought in sandworms, he was bringing her with him this time and only one of them would be coming back.

Babs's superior grin faltered slightly and looked as if she was weighting his words, before opening her trap once again. "I still don't like you."

Fuck. Didn't they get it? Did drowning damage their brains? Seriously, how conceited, and selfish could this dead woman get? "This isn't about you or me, Babs. You don't have to fuckin' like me, but you see, Lydia does and if either of you gave a lick about her, you'd be willing to shut your goddamn mouths and suck it the hell up like I'm willin' to do."

The poltergeist gaze flickered to Harriet's husband and watched as his words began to soak in. Good old Ozzie shoved his glasses back up the bridge, before he drew in his wife to discuss whatever the hell he was hashing out with her.

Betelgeuse fought the urge to gag at the wholesomeness that this couple tried to portray. It wasn't fuckin' normal to be so pure and wholesome all the motherfuckin' time. Did Ozzie and Harriet ever get into a good row? Shit, everyone has some type of imperfections and that doesn't go away even when your dead.

When the Nelson's finally pulled away from each other, the dead woman gave the poltergeist a reluctant glance, as she sighed loudly and surrendered. "Fine, for Lydia we will. I still don't trust you, though."

Has she not got the new flash by now? He could care less about how she fucking feels. He's not a motherfuckin' guidance counselor. "I don't fuckin' care if you do. Only opinion I care about is my wife upstairs." He snarled at the dead woman and stood up. He needed to get the hell out of there, before he throttled the stuck-up bitch. If he did that, his beautiful wife would lock up her snatch tighter than a fucking mouse trap. "Well folks, this has been fun and now that we have things squared away." A flick of his hand made the chair disappear, as he adjusted his cuffs, then grinned widely at the group. "I'm gonna get out of here, before I land in the fuckin' dog house. See ya later folks." His hand waved to his in-laws, then aimed the bird at the displeased dead woman, before he blinked out of sight.

Upstairs, the poltergeist blinked into view and began to troll the family homestead, as he scanned for a good window to chill and smoke a cig in.

Frustration rolled off him and he growled loudly to himself. 'Where the fuck was all the goddamn windows? This must have been that fat fucks idea and one that Red should have ignored.' He really was beginning to doubt his in-law's decision-making skills. Shit decorating talent. Shittier safety and parenting abilities. His pretty wife must have gotten everything from her maternal side, because she clearly didn't get it from these assholes.

The poltergeist came to a blank wall and snapped his fingers to create a large and open window, so he could kill the time as he waited for his little family to wake up. Betelgeuse sat down inside of the sill and bent one leg so that it rested with him while the other skimmed the wooden floor. Another cigarette appeared in his fingers and he took a long draw from it, then juiced a cold long neck. He drank deep from the bottle and moved his vision to the vast and colorful land.

The dead man sat there for a few minutes just watching the leaves fall from the trees and the birds flock together to fly south, occasionally taking a draw of either his beer or cigarette. His green eyes never left the scene, as his smoky voice piped up. "You just gonna stand there all day, Junie, or are you gonna come out and tell me what's on your mind? You know in this day and age, what your doin' would be considered stalkin'. Do I need to file a report?"

The old woman stepped out of the shadows with a lit cigarette of her own and rolled her eyes. "Don't flatter yourself, Geuse. I'm not doing this for kicks." She sucked in some smoke, as she continued on "So what's the angle here?"

The poltergeist snorted, while a bark of amused laughter spouted out of him. "For once, I don't fuckin' have one. Believe it or not, I like bein' a married man. Who the hell would have thought that?"

Betelgeuse wasn't lying. The specter really did enjoy being wedded to his little woman and couldn't help but relish in the benefits that came with it. Not that that was the only reason he was with her, no that was just an added bonus. Lydia was like no other breather he had ever met and unlike everyone else, who were always nervous about what he might do to them, his wife was not. No, the gorgeous woman didn't even blink an eye at him or his antics. Hell, most of the time, she would just laugh and shake her raven head at him in amusement.

The dead man swiped a drink of his beer as smiled at his thoughts. It wasn't just being a husband that he adored, but also that fact that was now a father. Fuck, he never thought he'd ever get the chance to be one. Bug, well his little daughter was something special. He may not have conceived her in the conventional way, but Lucy was his, nonetheless. She would forever be his first born, even with the new one in the oven.

Juno's raspy voice echoed in the hallway and rudely cut into his thoughts. "Cut the crap, Geuse! You always have an angle."

His green eyes rolled at her persistence, but kept his gaze on the scenery and continued to puff on his cigarette. "Not this time, Junie." Didn't any of these fuckers realize that this time it was different? Were their heads so far up their asses that they couldn't conceive that his priorities might have changed. Christ, he was surrounded by a bunch of ignorant stupid cunts, who think they know what the fuck they're talkin' about.

Juno scoffed lightly then voiced her opinion, while she eyed him carefully and moved her free hand to her hip. "Why is it different this time around?"

His mind drifted to his pregnant wife and kid once again and it caused his lips to twitch upwards as he sucked in some more smoke. "I found something I want more than my own fuckin' freedom."

A thin brow rose, and her light eyes flashed with skepticism, while she blew out another puff of smoke. Her tone sounded unconvinced when she spoke next. "You want those breathers more than your freedom?"

Of course, the old girl didn't believe him. Junie had never been his biggest fan and doubted everything that made him the ghost with the most. Betelgeuse drew another pull from his long neck and nodded his blonde head as he grinned wildly out the window. "Hell, yeah I do and they ain't just breathers; they're my family and they calm the fuckin' beast." The poltergeist didn't think the old bat was grasping what was coming out of his mouth. His family calmed the raging storm of insanity that beat at him ever since he'd fucking woken up. A sense of peace had finally settled over his undead life; one that he'd thought would never cross his darkened path.

Betelgeuse could feel her steely gaze on his person and knew she was trying to gauge the truthfulness of the situation. Not that he could blame the old girl. He did lie to her quite a bit in the past. Hell, he lied to her a lot.

"Hm. For once in your afterlife, I think you're actually telling the truth." The old woman snorted, then sobered when she spoke next. "Geuse, the higher ups are not happy that you are free."

The poltergeist finally turned her way, his green eyes cold and his tone serious. "I don't fuck around when it comes to my family, Junie." He lifted his cig to his mouth, sucking in a large amount, then blowing it in her direction. "I know that I haven't taken anything serious since I woke up, but I do now. My wife and kid are the only reason I haven't let loose and caused all that mayhem that you're fuckin' worried about. All you dickwads are safe from my motherfuckin' wraith."

"I'm sure they will be comforted by that, Geuse." Sarcasm was thick on her tongue as she rolled her light eyes, then sucked in some more smoke. "Though when they hear that you knocked up your breather, they will most likely have another fit. You have not just one child with your juice running through them, but now a second. You and I both know that they'll look for any reason to lock you up again and those kids of yours too."

It was one thing to mess with him; it was another to fuck with his kids. They better hope that they don't do anything reckless, because if they do. He can't promise that there will be a Netherworld for the dead to go to. The glow from his green eyes intensified and his icy tone was colder than before. "If they fuck with my kids, there will be no amount of locking me up that will stop me. I will tear the piece of shit Netherworld apart and that's a fuckin' promise Junie. Like I said, all you assmonkeys are safe, unless you fuck with my family then I ain't holdin' the fuck back."

His piercing gaze dug into the light ones of Junos' and she began to twitch, a sure sign that the old woman was getting nervous. She puffed on her cigarette, before carefully choosing her next words. "Now don't be hasty, Geuse."

"I ain't bein' hasty. I'm tellin' the truth. The higher ups fuck with my kids, and they'll see what I really can do. So, how about ya go and tell all those cockburgers that, okay?"

Juno let out a sigh and reluctantly nodded, "Fine, I'll relay the message, though you may want to have your wife checked out by someone from the Netherworld. It would make the higher ups less jumpy about exposer and the need to do something about it."

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I don't fuckin' care what those jagoffs are worried about, but I'll think about what you said. I will have to talk to the little woman before makin' a decision like that. I don't want to end up in the dog house, cuz I enjoy getting' some from my tiny wife."

"I do not want to hear about your sex life, Geuse. Keep that crap to yourself." The old woman said dryly as she continued to smoke. "You know, you were supposed to stay away from the Deetz girl?"

"Yeah well, that shit ended the night that she called me all fuckin' bloodied and holed up in a bathroom." At the mere thought of that night his fist clenched around the bottle and ground out his words. "If I had known what I do now, I would have done things a little differently with the asscock." Yes, he would have taken his time and showed the little prick exactly what it was like to be in a fucking horror movie. The little cunt deserved to be tortured until he cried for deaths sweet release.

Juno eyed the poltergeist critically as she asked the question she had been wanting to know. "What did you do with the breather?

The sitting specter sent her a chilling smile and his eyes gleamed with pleasure. "I beat the shit out of him till the little thundercunt took his last fuckin' breath." It had been one helluva beating; one that Betelgeuse would have thoroughly delighted in if his temper hadn't gotten the best of him. All the poltergeist could remember was how frighten and bloodied she had been, them making their deal, then it was all a red blur after that. Just thinking about it got his blood boiling once again.

The old dead woman looked nervous again, but didn't stop her inquiry. "Where is he then?"

His smile widened, while he took a long hit from his cig and blew rings in her direction. "I made sure his ass got sent to Titan. I'm sure he loved the sandworms, I know they sure loved him." He laughed with a shrug of his shoulders and nursed the last of his beer. "I thought you'd appreciate no paperwork."

Juno's steel eyes sharpened and shook her head as she pointed a thin finger at the ghost. "That wasn't your call to make."

Betelgeuse's brows rose, while his fist tightened around the bottle once again and bit back a snarl. "Fuck if it wasn't. That son of a bitched touched what didn't belong to him."

The old woman's own brows went up as she pointed something out to him. "She didn't belong to you either."

He snorted loudly and sent the old woman another grin. "Sorry to break it to ya, Junie, but she had been mine, since the day I'd seen her all dressed in black and morose as a little goth maiden could get. I just hadn't realized it at the time." No, he had been slow to the game on that one. The fucking woman scrambled his senses and threw him off kilter without him even realizing it.

"I thought that was just a ploy to get your freedom?" Juno smoked her cigarette and asked with large amount of curiosity.

The specter's eyes began to glow brightly, and a silly expression graced his features as he spoke to the dead woman. "Oh, it had been, though it wasn't until I was waiting in that goddamn waiting room that I realized I couldn't get the little minx out of my fuckin' mind. It's amazin' what a couple years can do when your thoughts are centered on one thing. You begin to see things helluva lot differently."

Juno was once again eyeing the poltergeist, as she contemplated his words. "It seems some things have changed…"

Betelgeuse's mouth opened to retort, but stopped when his attention was drawn from Juno to the other side of the hall. The sound of his daughter's crying and wife's voice bounced off the walls as they called out to him. He turned back to Juno and tossed his cigarette out the window, then juice his beer bottle gone. "It seems my little wife and kid are awake, so I gotta cut this conversation short. It was fun Junie, we should talk more often." He didn't even wait for a reply as the poltergeist quickly turned his attention back to the point in the hallway and waited for his family.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Hi :) What did you all think?
> 
> I have to say that I liked writing just with Betelgeuse and may have to do it more often. Plus, I love having the opportunity to swear more than usual, though I swear a lot either way so I'm not even sure if there was a big difference.
> 
> I also have some one-shots in mind for when this story has ended. I think I may write one about the night between Betelgeuse and Luke. It will be extremely dark and something that I have never done.-
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please review to let me know. Until the next update ^.^


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own the Beetlejuice franchise, nor do I make any money from this story. I just like to borrow the characters for my own twisted amusement.

'What the?' The sleeping mother thought at the same time as she woke with a jolt when a small foot connected with her back sharply. 'Ouch!' Lydia silently contemplated as she sat up in the bed and rubbed the tender spot where her daughter had just hit. 'That shit hurt!' Damn, for being such a little thing, that tiny girl was all arms and legs and took up most of the bed. How was that even possible?

Her brown eyes slid to the clock and spied that she had only slept for about an hour. You would think it wouldn't be enough time to recharge, but it did seem to take the edge off the fatigue that was weighing down on her. It does appear that a little bit does go a long way, especially for someone who's pregnant. Plus, the young mother was going to need all the sleep that she can get now; because with two little ones in the works, sleep will be the last thing on their minds.

Lydia pushed back the covers and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Her petite hand came up and rubbed the sleep crust from her vision, while her other pushed her body up to sit squarely on the mattress. Her dark eyes scanned her old room and realized that her ghostly husband was nowhere to be seen. 'Hm..Wonder where he is?' The young mother scratched her head and quietly mused, then shrugged her shoulders. Her poltergeist wouldn't have gone far and would show up eventually like always.

A light knock sounded on the door and drew her attention away from the thoughts of her husband. Lydia watched as it slowly opened some and Barbara's voice softly called out her name while her curly head moved into view. "Lydia?"

The deceased woman's eyes widened when she spotted the sleepy mother and gave her a nervous smile. "Sweetie, I didn't wake you, did I?"

A few dark strands fell in front Lydia's face, as she shook her head and waved the ghost in. "No, you didn't wake me. I just woke up a little bit ago. Please come on in."

Barbara carefully surveyed the room, before she took a few steps in and quietly shut the door behind her. She gave Lydia another nervous smile and spoke with absolute care. "I was wondering if I could speak with you?"

Lydia's hand went out and gestured for the other woman to take a sit in the chair across from the bed. "What is it that you want to talk about?" She asked as she eyed her surrogate mother in question.

The specter sat down and fretfully smoothed out her dress, then got to the point. "It's about you and HIM?" Barbara emphasized the word him and began to once again smooth out more imaginary wrinkles.

Lydia felt her irritation rising at Barbara's tone, but resisted the urge to snap at her. She ground her teeth together as her own tone sharpened slightly. "What about me and my husband?" Her brown eyes watched as the dead woman flinched when she said the word husband and her irritation seemed to grow. Oh, for fuck's sake. Couldn't her family just be glad that she was happy? It could have been worse, so much worse. Christ, it could have been Luke instead of Betelgeuse.

The exasperation must have been written on her face, because Barbara began to stumble over her words. "Well. You see…Are you…You know…Happy…With him?" The specter bit her bottom lip and cautiously caught her foster daughter's eye. A bubble of laughter spilled from Lydia, which caught the anxious dead woman by surprise.

Her raven mane bobbed, while she smiled at her ghostly mother reassuringly. "I'm more than happy, Barbara. I know it's hard to believe, but Betelgeuse really is a good guy. It just takes some time and patience to get to know the real him." She sent Barbara another reassuring smile and continued to talk. "He has been nothing but good to us, and I've never had a guy treat me the way he does. Betelgeuse is a wonderful husband and father." Lydia stood up and made her way over to the vanity where her purse sat. She dug through it and pulled out her keys, then hurried back to the waiting specter.

A smile played at the young mom's lips, while she handed the deceased a small picture frame with the very first photo of Betelgeuse and Lucy. "That was the morning after we had married. I came out to find him sprawled out in a big chair with a tiny Lucy laying across his chest. Both were snoring away, and I couldn't resist catching the moment."

To be honest, it had been the first in long time that the urge to use her camera had struck her. Apparently being with Luke had sucked out all motivation to capture anything. It was like her muse had abandoned her once she had gotten involved with that horrible man and wouldn't come back no matter how hard she had tried.

The curly haired ghost stared at the picture for a few moments, then turned her shocked eyes to the woman in front of her. "Why would he do that?"

Lydia gave her shoulders a small shrug and answered quietly. "I think he wanted to give me a break by letting me get some sleep. As for Lucy, well, I think he wanted to get to know his new daughter. Lucy's very special to him." Her hand slid to her stomach and that smile of hers grew wider. "And so is this little one. It may not be born yet, but it is already an important piece to our little family."

Tears shimmered in her dark eyes, as she took the tiny photograph back and brought it to her chest. "Barbara, I never thought I'd find someone that would treat us right. I didn't think such a man was out there, but he is, and I am so grateful that our paths crossed once again."

Barbara began to chew on her lower lip and reluctantly asked her question. "Do you…love him?"

Did she love Betelgeuse? She wasn't sure if she did or not? They had only been together for 3 months and even though their relationship progress to more sexual in nature; it still wasn't enough time to say that what they were feeling was love. All Lydia knew was that they like one another very deeply and that seemed to be good enough for the here and now. "I'm not sure if what I feel for him is love, since we haven't been together that long. I really do care for him and he cares for me as well."

Barbara's cool hands reached out for her own and clutched her hand tightly. "Lydia honey, how do you know that he's not leading you on?"

A frustrated sigh escaped her form and the urge to yank away from the dead female's hold and snap at her reared. Slowly, she took in some calming breaths and somehow held her tongue from lashing out. If Lydia was to be honest with herself; she couldn't fault the ghost for thinking that. It would have been something that the bio-exorcist would have done if he had still been that selfish and self-centered man that they had first met. "I don't think so. Betelgeuse already got what he wanted when we married and could have left at any time. So why would he lie and for what purpose?"

Barbara blew out a discouraged breath of her own as the dead woman reached for a reason. "I don't know for revenge maybe?"

This time Lydia tore her hand away from the other woman's grasp and drug it roughly through her hair. She stepped back and sent the frustrated ghost a raised brow with an 'you got to be kidding me' expression. Was Barbara serious? Lydia doubted that she would have been high on Betelgeuse's hit list. Not after what her surrogate parents had done to him. They had interfered with the whole sham of a wedding and had gotten him eaten by a sandworm. Revenge against his almost bride would have been the last thing on his mind.

"Revenge? Really? Yeah, I broke my word to him, but it's not like I sent a sandworm after him." Shit, she knew that what she had just said was a low blow, nevertheless the dead woman was starting to piss her the fuck off. Hell, everything was pissing her off as of late. Blasted hormones!

Lydia's heated glare bore into the ghost, while her words cooled considerably. "To be honest, you and Adam are more likely to be on his list for revenge. Not that Betelgeuse would do anything now; he doesn't want to cause trouble for our family. I wish you all would take my word that we are completely safe with him and that he would never hurt us. Betelgeuse is a changed man, damnit!"

Barbara shot up from her seat and hurried towards her adopted daughter. The specter reached out and drew the shaking woman into an embrace. "Oh, Lydia sweetheart, I'm not trying to upset you. I just wanted to make sure that this is what you truly wanted. I only want you to be happy and safe." Her cool hand gently stroked the back of Lydia's head just like Barbara had done a billion times when she was a dramatic and woeful teenager. "Honey, this is just going to take some time for us all to digest."

Lydia buried her face within the folds of her dress and took in the comforting scent that was distinctly Barbara. You'd think that either she wouldn't smell or that it would be that of decay, but neither were true. The odor that clung to the ghost was sugary and sweet just like walking into a bakery and was nothing like her husband, who smelled earthy; like taking a hike in a damp forest. Both were extremely comforting for the pregnant woman though.

She lifted her face away from the soothing fabric to stare up at her ghostly mother with remorseful eyes and to apologize profusely for her snappy behavior. "Barbara, I'm so sorry for getting snippy. I know that this is a huge adjustment for you all and it's going to take some time."

Barbara returned her regretful gaze with a gentle smile and a cool hand to her cheek. "Lydia, I know this can't be easy for you either. It must have been very scary for you to come here and tell us the truth. I'm glad that you did and so are your parents. Everything will work out in the end, sweetheart."

"I sure hope so. I don't think I can take any more stress. This pregnancy is kicking my butt and nothing like when I was pregnant with LuLu." Lydia said as she pulled away from the dead woman's calming touch and sighed deeply.

"Yes, you did have a huge amount of energy, even in your first trimester."

A snort left Lydia and a hand passed over her face, then peered up at the specter. "Well this time around its low energy up the wazoo."

Barbara frowned and sent her a concerned glance, while her tone softened. "Sweetie, would you like to lie down some more?"

Lydia shook her head and gave the woman a dismissive wave of her hand. "No. Couldn't if I tried. Miss Lulu hogs the bed." She thumbed in the direction where the small child was currently sprawled out even more on her side.

The ghostly female eyed the mattress and the child, then chuckled loudly. "Oh boy, she does, doesn't she?"

"Big time." The young mother let out a laugh of her own as she continued to watch her child, who began to wiggle around.

The child in question let out a small whimper and her little hand rubbed her sleep filled eyes. Lucy slowly moved to sit up and started to pull at her ear as she called out for her daddy. "Daaadaaa…..Daaaadaaa."

Lydia rushed to her crying daughter side and scooped her up in her arms. Gently she began to rock the upset child back and forth, while cooing soothingly to her. "Ssh…Lulu love, it's okay."

Barbara approached the pair and reached out to lightly stroke the back of her little granddaughter's head. "Oh honey, Is she okay?"

A flustered breath released from the petite woman, while a hand shoved roughly through her long dark hair as she continued to try to sooth her daughter. "I don't know. Lulu hasn't been herself lately, and I think she may be coming down with something." In spite of all of the bouncing and patting, Lucy's cries repeated to reverberate throughout the room and left both women deeply unsettled.

The concern was strong in the specter expression and tone as she spoke. "Lydia, you know I try not to tell you how to parent, but maybe you should take her to the doctor…"

Lydia blew some loose strains of hair from her eyes and wondered if her surrogate mother was right. Lucy still hadn't become any better since rising this morning and seemed to have gotten worse the later the day dragged on. Shit. Maybe they should take Lulu in. Clearly there was something going on.

More air slipped passed her lips, while she glanced over to her distraught child, then to the waiting ghost. "Yeah, I'm thinking maybe we should." Now the only problem was that she had no clue where her husband was. Wasn't he supposed to be taking a nap with them? Where the hell had he gone to?

Lydia stepped towards the doorway and asked the specter if she had spotted her missing husband. "You haven't seen Betelgeuse, have you?" Hopefully, Barbara had seen him. It would help greatly in her search to find the poltergeist.

Barbara's curls bounced as she bopped her head and followed Lydia to the entrance. "I smelled smoke down one of the hallways, so I'm guessing he is trolling there somewhere."

Lydia went to open the door and motioned for Barbara to go out first, before joining her in the hall. She bounced Lulu on her hip and turned to face the ghost. "Okay, I'll check there first. I'll see you in a little bit."

The specter reached out and stroked the soft blonde curls of her upset grandbaby, then bid them goodbye. "Yes. Let us know when you come back, okay?"

"I will." Waving goodbye to Barbara, she quickly made her way down the hallway to find the ghost with the most.

The farther Lydia walked down the hall, the stronger the odor of cigarettes became. Geesh! Barbara had been right! The smell of smoke was incredibly strong in this direction, and she was positive that her husband was most likely down at the end.

Lydia couldn't help but wonder why Betelgeuse was in the hallway anyway. It wasn't like there was anything interesting up here. Hell, it didn't even have a damn window to look out of! She thought that not having a window was asinine and couldn't possibly be safe. What if there were a fire? How the hell would they get out? Bet the obese man had never thought about that when he was spewing nonsense in her stepmother's ear. It had been rather disgusting when Otho had said jump and her stepmother had remarked how high. Well, that had ended rather quickly, especially after the night of the sham wedding. Otho was so spooked that he refused to take Delia's phone calls and had ended their tedious friendship. Lydia was glad the chunky bastard was out of the picture. Kudos to her husband for scaring the living daylights out of him.

A smile graced her features for a second, before being replaced with a frown as the pregnant woman slightly bounced her offspring on her hip and hurried down the hall. Gently she cooed and patted Lucy's back, in hopes that the small child would calm some. "Ssh, baby. It's okay."

Damn it, nothing seemed to help to soothe the crying child. Her wails increased in volume and called out for her father. "Daaadaaa…Daaadaaa!"

Frustration rolled off of Lydia when nothing seemed to stop Lulu's pain filled cries. She knew that the only way her upset child would calm was to find Betelgeuse. That thought caused her to quicken her steps and call out to her husband. "Betelgeuse?"

A large sigh left her as she spotted her husband and rushed towards him. Halleluiah, there was a light at the end. Ummm…Actually, there was light. Why was there a window? Not that she was complaining. Now if there were ever to be a fire, they wouldn't burn to death. Yay for escape routes!

Her brown eyes moved from the window to the silent case worker who stood off to the side of her husband. Lydia wondered what she was still doing at the house. It hadn't been that long since the confrontation and the pregnant mother was still none too happy with the old dead woman. The urge to shove her foot up the old bitty's ass had not gone away during her time napping. She bit her tongue and her lips twisted together tightly as she turned her gaze from the deceased worker to her poltergeist.

A frown quickly marred his rugged face and his voice dripped with concern. "Babes? Hey what's going on?" His arms stretched out toward his wife and daughter and motioned with his hands. "Come here, Bug." Betelgeuse reached out for the little girl and drew her securely to his form. "Ssh…it's okay, baby girl." Lucy's cries began to simmer down, but they did not cease entirely as the little girl continued to pull on her lobe.

The old woman watched the tiny family in silence, then cleared her throat and attracted the attention of the couple. Her smoky voice questioned the poltergeist. "Geuse, how long has she been pulling on her ear like that?"

"It's just been about a day, I think." Betelgeuse said as he turned to Lydia for confirmation, then back to Juno. "Yeah, it's been about that. Why do you ask, Junie?"

Juno ignored the nickname that her ex assistant had bestowed upon her and continued with what she was getting at. "When my kid was little, he used to pull on his ear just like that when he was suffering from an ear infection." Her light eyes burrowed into poltergeist's, before moving on. "You might want to take her in. You know what happens when you let an infection go, don't you Geuse?"

Betelgeuse stiffened and tightened his hold on his child, while he turned from the old case worker and to his wife. "Come on Babe. We're gonna take Bug to the hospital." The anxious man didn't wait for her response, as he grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her in the direction of the exit. Betelgeuse glanced over his shoulder and shot the old ghost a heated glare, but didn't say a lick to her before they disappeared out of sight.

Once in the car, Lydia turned to her husband with a look of concern. Betelgeuse hadn't place Lucy in her car seat and it didn't seem like he was going to any time soon. "Don't you think you should put her in her seat?"

The usually cocky ghost shook his head, while he pointed to the ignition. "Naw, she's fine right here. No amount of force will drag her from my hold. Now let's just get a move on, okay Sweets?"

She wanted to argue that it wasn't safe, but she knew that her husband would never do something to harm their child. If he said she was safe, hell she was. Still she couldn't help but be worried about the unusual behavior of the poltergeist. "Okay…"

It took a mere 10 minutes to get to the small hospital that Winter River had. Lydia thought it was more like a clinic than a hospital, but she wasn't going to argue with the folks that live in Winter River. To each his own and all that jazz.

As soon as the vehicle was in park, they were out of the car and hurried to the entrance to see someone.

The couple scurried to the front desk, where a middle-aged woman sat typing something on the computer. Lydia made a sound in her throat to draw the woman's attention and softly spoke. "Excuse me?"

The older lady's head shot up from her work and smiled brightly at her. "Yes, my dear, how may I help you?"

The young mother pointed at her husband and child as she rushed her words. "Our daughter hasn't been feeling good and we think that she may have an ear infection."

The receptionist's smile dropped to a frown and eyed the little girl. "Oh no, poor darling. Dr. Rogers has a couple of patients ahead of you, but that should give you enough time to fill out the paperwork. What is your daughter's name?"

"It's Lucinda Geist."

The smiled returned to the receptionist's face and beamed at the young mother. "That's such a pretty name!" Then she went about getting the papers and a clipboard together, before handing Lydia the bundle. "Here's the paperwork, my dear. You just bring it back to me when you are done."

Lydia sent her a small smile and bobbed her raven head, while she grabbed a pen from the container. "Okay, I will. Thank you."

The older lady flashed another smile and pointed in the direction of what seemed to be the waiting room. "You're most welcome. The waiting room is just over there." They gave the receptionist a nod, then made their way to the waiting area.

Once the couple found a seat to sit and wait, Lydia began to fill out the paperwork to the best of her ability. Several more minutes flew by when she finally put down the pen and sighed. Man, they had a lot of freaking questions and most had her digging deep in the recesses of her already occupied mind. Why is it every time you need to remember important information your mind goes blank? Lydia wasn't sure, but she did get it filled out, so they can either take it or leave it.

Standing up, she quickly made her way back to the front desk to return the forms. She smiled at the woman behind the desk and handed her the clipboard. "Here you go."

The receptionist sent her a smile in return, while she took the paperwork and placed them in a basket. "Thank you my dear." Lydia gave her a nod and a quick you're welcome, then hurried back to the waiting room.

Stepping back in the room and sitting down, she eyed her obviously anxious and worried husband. The tick in his jaw was going a mile a minute and Lydia knew that this whole situation was freaking him out. Hell, she was freaked herself. Nobody liked their baby being sick.

Her dark eyes watched the poltergeist stare up at the clock on the wall then glance at his watch, before he let out an impatient huff. Her gut began to ache and the feeling of something being off struck her. Her husband seemed stranger than usual. It was like it was more than just Lulu being sick. She couldn't put her finger on it, but Betelgeuse wasn't acting like himself at all. Shaking her head, Lydia pushed it to the side to worry about it after they took care of Lucy.

Time seemed to tick by slowly as they waited to be called. Her husband huffed loudly, then whispered to her. "What the fuck is takin' so long?"

Oh yeah, Lydia was missing something. When it came to them, Betelgeuse was normally pretty level headed and right now he was the opposite. She couldn't fathom what it could be to have her husband's feathers so ruffled. A sigh left her, and she whispered back to him. "I know it's been a while, but the lady did say that there was a couple of people ahead of us. We will probably be called soon."

A sneer ripped from him and his hold on Lucy tightened. "Yeah, Yeah. These other fuckers are sick, but Bug is a little kid and in fuckin' pain! That shit should take presence over a bunch of adults. They can suck it the fuck up."

Another sigh came from her and she forced herself not to roll her eyes. "B, it doesn't work like that. We just have to wait our turn."

Betelgeuse went to open his mouth, but was stopped when Lucy's name was called out from the other side of the room. "Lucinda Geist?"

Lydia nudged the poltergeist with her elbow and spoke softly under her breath. "See I told you." Then she grabbed his sleeve and pulled them up and to the waiting nurse.

She gave the woman a smile and confirmation. "Hi. That's us."

The young nurse smiled in return and greeted the couple. "Hello. I'm Dr Roger's nurse, Mindy." They began to move down the hall and ended up in a small alcove. "Okay I just need to get a height and weight for Lucinda."

Mindy took Lucy's weight and height and wrote the information down on her sheet, then had them walk once again down the hall. "Okay. Now this way and we will be in the room on the left."

As soon as they were in the room, she motioned for them to sit in the vacant chairs, before going to retrieve the thermometer. "Dad, why don't you sit here, so I can get her temperature." Nurse Mindy took Lucy's temperature and hummed to herself, as she jotted it down on her papers, then turned to them. "Okay folks, That's all from me. The doctor will be right in to see you." The couple gave the nurse a nod and a wave goodbye, as they waited for the Doctor.

Once the nurse left, Betelgeuse grumbled under his breath once again. "More fuckin' waiting. Seriously, what the fuck is up with this shit?"

This time Lydia did roll her eyes and patted his shoulder. "It will only be for a few minutes and you know the doctor will be right in. It shouldn't be that long." Just as she finished, a knock resounded on the door and an elderly man stepped in.

The older man smiled at them and reached out to shake their hands. "Hello. I'm Dr. Rogers. Can you tell me what brought you in today?"

Lydia returned both the smile and the handshake, as she began to introduce them and their concerns. "Hi Dr. Rogers. I'm Lydia, and this is my husband Benjamin. Our daughter Lucy hasn't been herself for a while now, but it has seemed to have gotten worse as of late. She just started to pull on her ear and an acquaintance of ours thought that she may have an ear infection. We thought that we should bring her in just in case."

The doctor reached out and grabbed a white notepad and began to jot down some notes. Quietly, he listened to her and waited for her to finish before he asked her a question. "Has she had an ear infection before?"

Lydia shook her head in response, as she glanced over at Lucy then back to the doctor. "No. She has never had one."

Dr. Rogers continued to write some more notes, while he carried on with his questions. "Which ear was she pulling at?

Betelgeuse's gravelly voice rang out, before Lydia could answer. "It's the left ear that she's been tuggin' on."

The doctor scribbled down some more, before motioning to the examination table. "Okay. Why don't we have dad sit on the table with her, so I can look in her ears."

Betelgeuse stood up and made his way to the table to sit, while Doctor Rogers washed his hands. After the doctor was done, he grabbed the otoscope with a child sized speculum from the wall and approached them.

Doctor Rogers looked in the right ear then the left as he talked to the couple. "Well…the ear drum does look red and seems to be bulging. She does have quite a high fever, so it looks like it is what you both thought. Little Lucinda here has an ear infection." He pulled back to put the medical instrument on the wall and spoke to Betelgeuse. "Benjamin, you may go back to sit next to your wife."

The Doctor reached over and grabbed what looked like a prescription pad and began to fill it out. "I'm going to prescribe an oral antibiotic and recommend that you get a pain reliever for the discomfort and the fever. We have an inhouse Pharmacy, so I'll have my nurse Mindy walk you over there."

Relief washed over Lydia at the news that her daughter was indeed sick with an ear infection and that was why she had been so cranky. The poor baby, Lulu had been in pain. No wonder she had been crying her little butt off. Well, now that they knew what was the cause, they'd get some medication in Lulu's system and she would begin to feel a little better. Lydia reached out and stroked Lucy's head, then turned her attention back to the doctor. "Thank you, Dr. Rogers."

"You're welcome. If she doesn't get better in the next couple of days, then I suggest that you see your regular physician." The older gentleman smiled at the young mother as he stood up to shake both of their hands again before leaving. "It was nice to meet you both and I hope your little one feels better. Goodbye."

They waved goodbye to the doctor and waited for his nurse to arrive. Shortly after the doc left the room, Mindy the nurse popped her head in the door and opened it. "Hi. You can follow me." She motioned for the little family to follow her out of the room and down another hallway.

They eventually came upon a small onsite pharmacy, where Mindy flashed a grin at the young man behind the counter and handed him a prescription slip. "Hey George, I have a prescription here for you."

The man named George returned her grin with a smirk and snagged the paper prescription. "Thanks Mindy."

"No problem." Mindy turned from the pharmacist and to the couple standing next to her. "Well it was nice to meet you and I do hope that Lucinda feels better soon."

Lydia reached out to shake the nurse's hand. "Thank you and have a nice night."

Nurse Mindy shook her hand back and beamed. "You too. Bye." She stepped away from the couple and waved to them, then made her way out of the room.

As soon as the nurse was out of sight, they turned their attention to the waiting pharmacist.

George grinned at them as he spoke. "Hi folks, this will just take a couple of minutes, so you can wait over there, and I'll call you when it's ready."

"Okay. Thank you."

He tipped his head and continued to grin at her. "No problem ma'am."

They moved to sit in the empty chairs and wait for the prescription to be filled. Betelgeuse let out another huge huff and lowly sneered in his wife's ear. "More fuckin' waiting."

Not this again. Seriously this man's thin patience was getting ridiculous. What was going on with him? She wanted to question him, but felt like this wasn't the place to do it. Instead She whispered softly back. "Betelgeuse, I want to get Lulu's medication just as much as you do, but they need to do it right. It's just going to be a couple more minutes and then we can get the medication in her system."

The dead man scoffed and glared at the empty counter. "Still fuckin' taking forever."

One of many sighs left her once again as Lydia shook her black mane, but didn't comment to her anxious husband.

Sometime later, the pharmacist called them to the pickup window. Lydia grabbed some infants pain reliever on the way, then listen to what the pharmacist said about the oral medication, before paying for both medications.

As soon as the medicine bag was in her hands, her husband had quickly ushered them out of the hospital and into their vehicle.

His green eyes turned on her and cocked his head in the direction of the bag. "How about we get some of that medication in her before we leave, Sweets?"

Lydia bobbed her head in agreement, while she opened the bag and drew out both medications. She unsealed the pain reliever first and measured out the correct amount then passed it to her husband. It would be better to try and knock out the pain as well as the fever first.

Lucy fussed in her husband's arms and tried to turn away from the dropper, but Betelgeuse had somehow coaxed the young child to take the bitter medicine. Her tiny face scrunched up and blew out a raspberry to try to remove the unpleasant aftertaste.

The young mother handed the poltergeist the other dropper and watched as he tried again to convince their daughter to take it. He brought the other medication to the little girl's mouth, but she shook her head some more than shoved it way with her small hands. "No."

Lydia heard her husband sigh, while he talked to the small child. "Sorry Bug, but you gotta take this."

Her blonde head shook again and cried as she pushed his hand away. "No."

"Come on, baby girl. Just one more time. Now open for daddy."

Lucy shook her head several more times and her ghostly father continued to persuade her. Finally, she opened her mouth and allowed him to squirt in the medication. Her face twisted into a grimace and blew out another raspberry. Betelgeuse juiced a bottle and gave it to the child, who drank it quickly.

Lydia couldn't help but wonder how the poltergeist did it. How was he able to persuade their daughter to do things that she didn't even want to do? Hell, the pregnant mother couldn't even get the tiny child to cave on good days then her husband waltzes in and bam, little Lulu listens. It must have to do with the psychology of the father/daughter bond or it was simply the strong connection between Lulu and Betelgeuse period.

Her dark eyes moved from her family to the colored sky. By now the sun was beginning to dip closer towards the horizon, which indicated that they had been at the doctor's office for quite some time. It would probably be best to get back to her parents, so that they could put Lulu to bed and figure out what they were going to do next. Taking her eyes off the skyline, Lydia cleared her throat and drew Betelgeuse's attention. "Honey, it's getting late. Maybe you should put Lulu in her car seat, so we can go back to my parent's house."

Betelgeuse's green eyes went back to their daughter and released a deep sigh. "Sure Sweets." The poltergeist placed Lulu in her seat and adjusted the straps, before righting himself in his own. As soon as he was done, Lydia started the car and shifted it into gear, then pulled out of the parking lot.

When they finally pulled into her parent's drive and parked, Lydia noticed that the poltergeist still looked agitated. Betelgeuse's jaw had been twitching, and his long fingers kept drumming against the arm rest as his gaze moved to the mirror that he had tweaked to keep an eye on a less cranky Lucy. It was like he was afraid that something was going to happen to Lulu at any second. This worried his wife even more. The urge to call him on it was strong, but still she bit her tongue as they got out of the vehicle and made their way into the house.

Betelgeuse held the drowsy child to his side, while he hurried up the stair and to their room. 'Christ, he was freaking fast!' The young mother thought as she quickened her own steps to try to keep up with her husband's long strides.

Once in the room, Lydia quickly shut the door behind them and eyed the anxious poltergeist, who was now gently placing their daughter into their temporary bed.

Carefully, she approached him and tried to soothe some of his anxiety. "Honey, Lucy is going to be fine." Betelgeuse sat on the edge of the mattress and stared over at his wife, while he ran his hand through his blonde hair. He scoffed lightly to her but stayed relatively silent.

His reaction caused her brows to furrow and the words she'd tried to hold to come flooding out. "Betelgeuse, will you tell me why you're so agitated?"

"Who says I'm agitated, Babe?"

The skeptical woman sent her husband a dubious expression and tried to keep her voice low so not to disturb their dozing child. "I'm saying you are. It's like you're afraid that something's going to happen to Lucy. Why are you acting like that? Will you tell me what's wrong?"

Once again, his hand ran roughly through his mane and a growl sprang from him. "Lydia just back the fuck off, okay?!" The sharpness of his tone caused his worried wife to jump back and her mouth to drop open in surprise.

Betelgeuse had never used that tone or her name before. No, it had always been babe, babes, sweets, and sweetheart. Lydia watched as her husband rubbed his face and release a massive breath then he just sat in silence on the bed. What the hell had just happened? Why did he snap at her? Was it because she had pushed? Shit, she hadn't meant to upset him. It was just that his odd behavior was disconcerting. Her chest and throat tightened as she tried to take in a gasp of air and blinked her eyes to try and fight the tears that wanted to spill. Goddamn hormones! Normally she wouldn't have taken this so close to heart. Yes, she would have been hurt, but she wouldn't have been fighting the waterworks that she was now battling with.

The room began to feel like it was closing around her, and the young mother knew that she needed to get out of the stifling area. Not waiting to see if her husband was willing to speak or not, she made a beeline for the door and hurried out of the room. Her vision became blurry from the unshed tears as Lydia hastily made her way to the kitchen.

A hand went up to wipe her watery eyes, while she quickly crossed the threshold and proceeded to the cupboard. All she wanted to do right now was to try and sooth her raging emotions with a huge cup of hot chocolate.

The warm and sweet goodness that was hot cocoa was a stable in the Deetz household during her childhood. Whenever there was an upheaval in their lives, Lydia and her father would sit in the kitchen and drink hot chocolate. Most of the time they would just sit in silence. Words had not been needed. It had been comforting enough to just have her father by her side. Lydia remembered drinking a lot of hot coca during the time that her father had started dating Delia. It had been a drastic shift in their family dynamic and one that Lydia had a hard time dealing with. The warm drink had been a great comfort during that stressful and confusing time.

Shaking off her thoughts, Lydia pulled open the cabinet that held the Coffee cups and condiments. She scanned the shelves and finally spotted what she was looking for; her favorite mug and a container of cocoa that Delia had been raving about one time when they had spoken. It was some fancy brand that Lydia had never heard of, but her stepmother swore that it was the best and that she would enjoy it. Well, now she would put Delia's words to the test.

Lydia carried her mug and the container to the microwave and set it on the counter, while she went to the fridge to get some almond milk. Once again, Delia was on another kick and this time it was no dairy in the house. Apparently, her stepmother had a dairy sensitivity, yet ate loads of Nutella, which had milk in it. Not that Lydia would point that out to her. If Delia wanted to believe that she had a dairy sensitivity, then so be it. It wouldn't last long, and she'd be on a new kick soon enough. When was her stepmother not on some type of fad? Betelgeuse would have made some comment about Delia being a faddist and following along with every fad because she can't think for herself.

A frown marred her features when the thought of her husband crossed her mind. Thinking of the poltergeist made Lydia's chest tighten and reminded her of the reason that she was making hot cocoa in the first place. More tears slid down her cheeks as her empty hand reached up to wipe them away, while the other poured the powdered cocoa and the milk into the mug.

Christ, she was a blubbering mess. Her damn hormones were going a mile per minute and to have her husband snap at her really didn't help. For the first time in their relationship, Betelgeuse had yelled at her. Not even when they were arguing about something did he raise his voice. Usually her husband kept his cool while they bickered with one another. Shit, they weren't even arguing at the time. That's how she knew that something was wrong.

Placing the mug in the microwave and closing the door, the crying woman pressed the buttons that would allow her drink to warm. She waited for it to beep, then she took it out and mixed everything together. Before she could try it though, she heard the familiar footfalls of her husband's chunky boots, as they slapped against the floor and made their way to her.

Her body stiffened when his arms wrapped around her waist and drew her back flush to his chest. She felt him bury his face in the mounts of black hair, and his chest expanded as he took in a whiff of her warm scent. For several minutes they just stood in the kitchen, both listening to the sound of each other's shallow breaths.

Lydia felt Betelgeuse's face pull away from the back of her head and clear his throat before he spoke. "I'm sorry, Baby. Shit, this had nothing to do with you. Remember I told ya that I have hang ups. Well, this was one of them, okay?"

He buried his face once again in her hair, then rested his cheek on the back of her head. "That old bat is the only who knows how I died and that's the way I like it. As you know, I got my rep to protect."

Betelgeuse let out a snort, as his hand began to rub her abdomen and continued. "Fuck Babe. I survived the black motherfuckin' plague, only to die from a simple cut on my goddamn foot. No antibiotics when I lived, Sweets. So once infection set in, well, I was fuckin' toast."

His face went back in her hair, then drew back with his tone rougher than usual. "When Junie told us to take Bug in, cuz it sounded like she was dealing with an ear infection. Hell, all I heard was the word infection and for the first time since I fuckin' died I felt an inkling of fear. All I could think about was getting Bug checked out and some medicine in her as fast as we could. Baby, I didn't mean to snap at ya."

The sincerity in her husband's voice caused a sigh of relief from her at the same time as she carefully turned around in his arms and stared up at him. "I didn't mean to push you Betelgeuse." She sniffed, and a few tears fell from the corner of her eyes. "I was just worried that's all."

His cool fingers wiped away the trails of tears and let out a relieved breath of his own. "I know ya were, Babes. I told ya before that I have hang ups. I've been around a helluva long time and ya keep the issues ya die with, but also add some along the fuckin' way. Rest in peace my ass." The poltergeist snored then gave his wife a toothy grin and he wiggled his brows.

A giggle bubble from her, while she shook her black head and placed a hand on his chest. "Are you resting in peace now?" Lydia bit her lower lip and fluttered her wet lashes as her dark eyes peered up into his own.

Betelgeuse's grin widened and dragged her tiny body even closer so that her hand was now trapped between them. His cold breath tickled her lobe, and it caused a shiver to go down her spine. "Sweetheart, this is the most peaceful I've ever been alive or dead."

"Really?"

"Damn straight, Babe. Not that I do a lot of resting though." He wiggled his eyebrows, which caused the small woman to softly laugh and shake her head at him.

The poltergeist's eyes danced with mischief and wiggled his brows some more before he swooped in to kiss his wife soundly on the lips. She let out a small moan and her free hand slid up to wrap around his neck as she kissed him back with the same fever.

When her lungs felt like they were going to burst, Lydia drew back and caught the green eyes of her husbands. The corner of her lips twitched upwards, while another delighted laugh spilled forth and followed by her husband's smoky one.

Once they settled down, Betelgeuse brushed her cheek softly and cocked his head in the direction of the entrance. "Baby, it's been one helluva day. How about we go upstairs, and I'll juice us something to eat that won't get us sick?"

He snorted as Lydia glanced at the refrigerator, then back her husband with a nod. "Yeah, that sounds good. Can we have pizza with pineapple and Canadian bacon?" Her mouth began to water at the thought and her stomach seemed to rumble in agreement. Lydia quickly realized that she had not eaten since that morning and that she was super hungry. Her stomach rumbled loudly again, and her face flushed brightly from embarrassment.

Betelgeuse released his hold on her and chuckled, while he smirked down at her. "You are reading my mind, sweetheart. Maybe I'll even juice us a tv and couch. We can have dinner and a movie. How does that sound?"

Lydia took a step back placing her hand on her stomach and beamed up at him. "It sounds perfect. That's exactly what me and this little one needs right now." It sounded wonderful and relatively normal. Plus, she really was hungry. Incubating life wasn't easy, and it took a helluva lot out of a person.

Betelgeuse stepped closer and wove his arm around her waist, then drew her to his side once again. "Good and hopefully we'll be able to get something in Bug when she wakes up." His chest heaved a sigh and his free hand ran over his face, before looking down at his wife.

Lydia rested her head against his shoulder during which she bopped her dark head and padded his upper body lightly with her hand. "Yeah, she really hasn't had an appetite. I'm sure we will be able to get something in her tummy now that she has had some medicine in her."

The poltergeist kissed her crown and slowly lead her out of the room. "We'll see, Sweets. Now, let's go feed you and lil bean."

Lydia paused in her tracks and pulled her husband back with her. "Betelgeuse, wait! I just made some hot cocoa. I can't leave it!" Her gaze went back to the counter where her mug sat, then back the specter. He gave her a wink and a grin, before snapping his fingers. The mug appeared in his hand and held it out to her. "Here Babes."

Lydia smiled brightly as she took her hot cocoa and thanked him. "Thank you, B." He gave her another wink and a laugh bubbled forth. She lightly shook her head at him, then carefully took a sip of the hot cocoa. Her brown eyes widened in surprise and her lips smacked together. "Mmm…Delia was right. It is good." She held it up and put the mug to her husband's lips. "Here try it."

Betelgeuse took a sip and shook his head in agreement. "Hm…Not bad babe. Kudos to Big Red. Who knew her faddist ways would actually turn out to be good?"

Lydia couldn't believe that her husband had said the same thing that she had been thinking about moments ago. See, she was right about him thinking Delia was faddist. A giggle slipped passed her lips, though she did try to hide it by putting the mug to her mouth. It didn't work, but Betelgeuse didn't comment. He just raised a pale brow, then shook his shaggy head at her. "Now that you have your hot chocolate, Sweets. Let's get something in that belly of yours to feed you and our bean." He ran his hand over her stomach, then began to lead her out of the room once again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Wow, it has been awhile. I wanted to update sooner, but this chapter really had me struggling. I kept going back and changing things because I felt like something was missing. I still feel that way, but didn't want to leave you all hanging. It's not my favorite chapter so far, though it is the longest that I have done.
> 
> What did you all think? Did you like it or do you see the thing I am missing? Am I even missing anything or is it just me nit-picking my work? Ugh...I don't know...
> 
> Please drop me a review and maybe it will ease my troubled mind.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with the Beetlejuice franchise nor do I make any money on this. I just like the use the characters for my own twisted amusement.
> 
> Side note: I just want to state before you read, that I am not a doctor or medical practitioner of any kind. There is a big chance that I may get things wrong because I'm going off of memory and my memory is for shit. Plus, it has been a long time since I had my daughter and things have changed some. I also I didn't have a midwife, so I'm going off of what I have found about appointments and all that goes with it. If you see something that I may have missed feel free to leave a comment to let me know. I will try to fix it as soon as possible. Now enough of my squawking. . Enjoy the new chapter!

 

The weekend at her parents hadn't been as bad as Lydia had initially thought. Of course, it had ended short because of Lucy being sick and to Lydia's surprise, her family had understood completely. Before they had left, she had promised them that they would visit again to finish their discussion. The young mother hoped that by the time that came around, her parents would be more accustom to her marriage to the poltergeist.

After the upsetting weekend, the next couple of days seemed to pass by rather quickly. Lucy began to return to her old sunny self and the small family got back to their daily routine. The topic of what Juno had said to Betelgeuse had been brought up and the couple had decided that a netherworld midwife would be perfect for their unorthodox situation. It would be safer to go with someone who knew what they were doing. Plus, there were some things that neither really knew about when it came to this pregnancy. Basically, they were both wading in uncharted territory.

Shortly after their discussion, Betelgeuse had come to her and stated that a Netherworld Midwife named Irene would be at their house in the morning. He had told her that the deceased woman was an acquaintance of his and someone that he trusted to take good care of her and their unborn child.

Lydia couldn't help but be intrigued by the thought of her husband having an acquaintance and someone he trusted to boot. She knew that Betelgeuse trusted very few, so if he said her and their unborn baby were in good hand then they were.

The morning of the appointment had the young mother sitting on the couch folding some laundry. Her husband and daughter sat on the floor playing with a few building blocks. A chiming started to resound throughout the house, causing the pregnant woman to jump and turn a nervous gaze to her husband. "What is that?"

The poltergeist gave her a reassuring smile and passed Lucy a block, as he spoke. "It's okay, Sweets. It's our alarm system for Netherfolk. I don't want Junie or any other fucker thinkin' that they can pop in whenever the hell they feel like it. This is our house and we make the rules not them." Betelgeuse stood up and walked to the fire place, where he snapped his fingers, causing it to contort into a large doorway.

The new door swung open and out stepped a short and wafer thin middle-aged woman with beautiful silver hair place into a loose bun. She was also dressed in a dark blue garden print scrub top with matching scrub pants and grey tennis shoes. Around her petite neck was a pair of black and blue hand prints, which was clear sign that her death had been one of strangulation.

Lydia forced her eyes away from the bruising and hoped that the midwife had not noticed her staring. She didn't want to come off as rude, nor did she want to insult her. Betelgeuse had once said that deaths are very private subject matter and were not talked about unless the dead in question spoke about it first.

Leaning down to pick up Lulu, she watched the dead woman smile at her husband then croaked out a greeting. Her tone was even rougher than either the dead man or the nosey case worker. "Hey Geuse."

Betelgeuse nodded his head and made his way to his nervous wife. "Hey Irene." He gave Lydia an encouraging smile, as his arm went around her waist and pulled her snuggly to his side.

The little girl wiggled in her mother's hold and reached out to grab her father's shirt as she tried to tug herself into his arms. The poltergeist's attention moved from his wife to his noisy child. He sent Lucy an amused grin then snatched her up and drew her tightly to his other side. Betelgeuse lightly kissed the crown of her head, while Lulu rested her head against his shoulder and eyed the new person in the room.

The dead midwife watched the interaction in silence, then turned her attention to the petite woman and sent her a gentle smile. "Hello my dear. You must be this lump's wife?"

Betelgeuse snorted noisily before he shot back at the practitioner. "Who ya callin' a lump, Iron maiden?"

Irene sent him a sharp glare, then sniffed at him and rolled her eyes. "Funny Geuse. Now don't get your boxers in a bunch and let me do my job."

The poltergeist cocked his head and raised a pale brow, while he cheekily shot back. "You haven't been doing it so far."

The midwife rolled her eyes once again and quipped at the heckling dead man. "You rudely interrupted." Irene didn't wait for him to reply as she averted her attention to the quiet woman in front of her. "Now Sweetie, what is your name?"

Lydia gazed back and forth between her husband and the midwife, then gave the dead woman a nervous smile. "Lydia and it's nice to meet you."

"That is such a pretty name you have, my dear. I'm Irene, and it's nice to meet you as well." Her warm gaze moved to the child in the poltergeist's arms and cooed gently to the small youngster. "And who is this little one?"

Lucy shied away from the unknown person and curled into her father. Betelgeuse tightened his hold on her and gave her another a light kiss, while he flashed a grin and boasted proudly to the midwife. "This is my Bug."

Irene locked her fingers behind her back and rocked on the balls of her feet as she directed her question at Lydia with an amused smile. "I'm assuming Bug is a nickname?"

Lydia let out a laugh and patted her husband's chest while her nerves began to slowly melt away. She shook her head and informed the midwife that it was indeed a nickname. "Yes, it is. Her name is Lucinda, but we call her Lucy for short."

The practitioner's smile widened in delight and gushed in the direction of the little girl. "Awe, another pretty name. You are too cute." Irene's gaze turned back to Lydia and asked another question. "How old is she?"

Lydia fluffed Lulu's hair lightly and answered the midwife. "She's 8 months old."

"She is so adorable." Irene gushed at the pregnant mother, then move her focus to the dead man. "It seems that you will have two little ones in the near future." She laughed enthusiastically and sent Betelgeuse an amused smirk. "Geuse, you are in for one wild ride."

The poltergeist shrugged his shoulders and scoffed. "Nothin' I can't handle." His gaze dropped down to Lucy, then back to Irene with a huge content grin. "It will be well worth it."

"That it is. It's something very special." Irene's happy smile dropped as her eyes dimmed slightly. Her hand went to the bruises on her neck and brushed them slightly as she spoke. "Take in every moment. You never know what can happen." She shook her head and her bright smile returned just as quickly as it had disappeared. The midwife turned to the poltergeist and inquired about a few things. "Did you get all the stuff that I will need?"

Betelgeuse snapped his fingers and a huge bag appeared on the coffee table. On the other side of the room, a portable examination table materialized in the corner along with a few other items. "Yeah, I got the things ya wanted from that list of yours."

"Good. This will make everything go a lot smoother." Said Irene as she went to the bag and opened it. The midwife pulled out a bunch of papers then pointed in the direction of the couch. "Why don't we sit on the sofa? I have some questions for you first."

Lydia nodded quickly and detached herself from her husband. "Okay sure." She made her way to the couch and sat down with a smile, while her hands folded onto her lap. Betelgeuse went to place Lucy in her activity jumper before making his way to his wife.

Irene clicked the pen and began to write things on the top sheet, then she turned her face to the waiting couple. "What is your full name?"

"It's Lydia Joyce Geist."

The midwife snorted and sent the poltergeist an amused smirk as she scribbled it down. "Geist? Clever Geuse." Betelgeuse returned her smirk with one of his own and a wink, but didn't say anything back to the dead woman.

The older woman let out a small laugh, as she continued with her inquiry. "Any other pregnancies besides your daughters?"

Lydia glanced at her child happily playing with in her activity chair than back to the practitioner with a shake of her head. "No. Lucy was my first pregnancy."

Irene tapped the pen against her pale lips and continued to write as she asked the young woman another question. "Was there any complication with the pregnancy?"

Thank the fates that there had been no ramifications because of the trauma that Luke had caused. With Lucy it had been a typical and healthy pregnancy and had been right on track the whole time. "No, there were no complications. It was a relatively normal pregnancy."

The midwife hummed to herself and continued to jot down Lydia's answers, while asking her other questions. "Are you currently taking any medications?

"No. I'm not taking anything." Lydia shook her head once again and reached out to grab her husband's hand. Betelgeuse sent her a warm smile and gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Irene flashed a small smile at the couple as the queries persisted. "Okay. Any family history of diseases or genetic conditions?"

The pregnant woman chewed on her bottom lips and thought about her family history. Nothing seemed to come to mind. She had asked her father when she had been pregnant with Lucy if there were any history on either side, but he had said that he knew of none. "No family history that I know of."

"Good. Any history of smoking and/or alcohol consumption?"

Lydia shook her head once again, before she answered the midwife's question. "I was never a smoker, and I used to drink occasionally before my first pregnancy, but I haven't since then."

The dead woman's gaze trained on the poltergeist and aimed a question in his direction. "Geuse, you still smoke?"

He raised a brow and cocked his head, then answered the waiting practitioner. "Yeah, but I don't smoke in the house, if that's what you're askin'. I know what secondhand smoke can do to a breather and I ain't riskin' my family, woman." His hold on his wife's hand tightened and sent her an 'are we done yet' look. Lydia gave her husband a small nod of her head to tell him that they were not finished, then a look of annoyance, before turning back to the dead woman.

The midwife herself looked pleased with Betelgeuse's response and sent him a look of approval, seeming to miss the exchange between the couple. "Good." Irene then turned from the poltergeist to his pregnant partner and reached out to lightly pat her knee. "My dear, I know that there's quite a bit of questions, but we are almost done and can move to the physical soon."

Apparently, the dead woman hadn't missed their interaction after all. Lydia elbowed her husband in the ribs causing him to glare down at her. She wasn't the least bit intimated as she rolled her eyes then moved to the midwife and tried to reassure her. "It's fine. I've been through all of this before and know that these questions are important."

Irene went to pat her knee some more then pulled away and began to flip through the pile of papers on her lap. She looked up when she found the thing she had been searching for and set the item on top of the stack, before returning to her inquiries. "Now when was the last day of your period?"

Lydia's dark eyes widened, and she began to nibble on her bottom lip again as she tried to remember her last day. "Um… I think it was around July 10th." She hoped that was the day. Her memory was a little fuzzy on that detail. Usually on the day of your last period, you are just happy that it's finally over with for the month.

The midwife clicked her tongue and scanned what seemed like some type of chart. "Hmm…Let's see…that would mean your due date will be about…" She scanned the chart then stared up at the couple with a wide grin. "April 17th. Awe, a spring baby, how lovely. I have to say it seems fitting, though. A new life for when life is awakening everywhere."

Betelgeuse released his wife's hand and wrapped it around her shoulders. He pulled her to him and leaned in to plant a kiss on her temple. "It does seem fitting, doesn't it Babe?" Her face turned up and offered him a warm smile, while placing her hand on her abdomen. "Yeah, it does."

Irene cleared her throat to draw the couple's attention back to her and moved quickly to the next question. "Sorry to interrupt, but have you thought about your birthing options?"

Lydia's lips twisted as she thought about her options and their unusual situation. "Well, since our circumstances are different. I think it would be best for a home birth. I would like to try a water birth if that is possible."

Betelgeuse's brow rose while he cut into the conversation. "Isn't that where ya sit in a pool or something? Why would ya wanna do that babe?"

She went to pat the top of his hand affectionately and beamed over at him. "It helps with the pain, B."

"Oh…" Yeah, her husband was probably not expecting that answer and clearly didn't know what to say next. The loud and foulmouthed poltergeist was a loss for words. It reminded her of the day when she told him that she was pregnant. That thought made a giggle bubble forth, but she tried to hide it with a hand to the mouth and a small cough.

The midwife's lips twitched in amusement, while she took out a small notepad to jot down a note. "I don't see why you couldn't. I will have to get a list together, so your husband can get the things we will need for that. We will also need to create an emergency plan should anything arise."

As soon as the midwife's words were spoken, Betelgeuse was no longer silent. "Woman, don't worried about that. If shit goes wrong, I'll have her at the hospital before you could blink. I'm your emergency plan, so don't worry."

Irene jotted something else down then looked up at the poltergeist. She tipped her head at him and agreed with his statement. "That seems best, since I can't be seen by another person other than you folks." She turned from the couple and went back to the paperwork. "Hmm…let's see." She flipped through the papers, then set them down on the coffee table. "Okay, we are now finally done with all of those questions." Irene tilted her head in the direction of the examination table. "Why don't we start the exam?"

Betelgeuse got up and moved to where little Lulu was playing to give the woman some space. He went to grab some of the blocks laying on the floor, then sat down next to the small child and passed her one. Lucy took the hunk happily and stuffed a corner in her mouth, while she tried to seize another block from her father's hand.

Lydia watched her husband and child for a few minutes, before she switched her attention back to the midwife. She smiled at the practitioner as she stood up. "Sure." Irene led Lydia to the examination table and the exam commenced.

The checkup was just like any other first examination for a pregnant woman with the practitioner getting her weight and height, a blood pressure, and of course the physical aspect along with some blood draws. To the young mother's surprise, it was over quickly, and they were on the couch once again to finish up the appointment.

Irene beamed at Lydia and reached out to pat her hand softly as she voiced her thoughts. "Well Lydia, everything looks like it is going just the way it should be. I would like you to start some prenatal vitamins. You can get them at any pharmacy or store. Do you have any questions my dear?"

Any tension the pregnant woman may have had seemed to melt away with the conformation that everything was right on track and there didn't seem to be any problems. Lydia's cheeks puffed then released a relieved breath as her head bobbed to indicate that she did have a question of her own. "Yes. With my last pregnancy I wasn't so tired, but with this one I'm just beat. Do you know why that is?"

The midwife rubbed her chin while she thought about it. "Hmm…I would guess that it is because of Geuse's power. It must be overcompensating for, well, him not being alive. It seems to be putting your body into overdrive. Does that answer your question?"

The older woman's explanation did make complete sense and made Lydia feel even better. A relieved smile formed on her lips and she shook her black hair everywhere. "Yes, thank you, it does."

"Are there any other questions?"

Nope. None that Lydia could think of. That had been her only question, though she knew if some did come to mind she would just bring them up at the next appointment. "No, I don't have any more."

Her husband's smoky voice cut into the conversation and captured the women's attention from one another. His eyes drifted between them then landed on the midwife. "Oi Gricelda, I have one."

Irene didn't look pleased with the new nickname and sent the dead man a glare with a raised brow. "And that would be?"

Betelgeuse tilted his head in his wife's direction and asked his question. "Is she and the baby safe if I juice with them then?"

Irene's lips twisted together as she contemplated his words. "I would think that they would be perfectly safe. I cannot see why it would hurt them, since your juice is a huge contributor in this pregnancy."

A pleased expression slid on his features and he sent his wife a smug grin. "See Babe I told ya that you and little bean would be safe. Ya worried for nothin'. I know what my juice can do, Sweets."

Lydia forced herself not to roll her eyes at her boastful partner and shoved her fingers through her dark hair as she sighed softly. "B, it was better to be safe than sorry. We've already had this conversation."

He snorted loudly while he passed another block to their child. "I know that woman, but like I told ya before, I know what my juice can do, and I'd never put either of you in danger."

His wife frowned and opened her mouth to retort back, when the midwife cleared her throat and interrupted the couple. Both twisted in the direction of the practitioner and watched as she focused on the poltergeist. "Geuse, do you have any more questions?"

His green eyes flicked to his annoyed wife then to the midwife with a shake of his head. "Naw, that was the only one that I had."

Irene reached out and began to place the paperwork on the coffee table in a manila folder. "Well my dear, if you don't have any more questions, then it is time for me to go." She slid the folder into the bag and zipped it closed then turned to Betelgeuse. Irene flicked her finger at the supplies as she spoke. "Geuse, what do you want me to do with the stuff?"

They all stood up and waited for Betelgeuse to answer. He waved flippantly at the items as he bent down to pick up his daughter. "Don't worry about it. I'm working on something."

The midwife lightly shrugged as she moved her attention to her new client. "Okay." Irene smiled brightly at Lydia and held out her hand to say goodbye. "It was a pleasure to meet you and I look forward to seeing you at future appointments."

Lydia grabbed a hold of the dead woman's hand and shook it gently as she returned the smile with one of her own. "It was nice to meet you as well and thank you for doing this."

Irene's other hand reached up and patted the young mother's hand lightly. "Oh, it was no problem, Sweetheart. I'm just helping out an old friend."

Another snort emanated from the poltergeist and he eyed the midwife with a raised brow. "Who said we were friends?"

Irene moved her hands away from Lydia's and rested them on her hips. Her own brow rose as her lips twisted and she sent him an 'who you are fooling' look. "Deny it all you want, Geuse. I'm your friend and probably your only one at that."

Lydia watched the two specters in amusement and bit her lip to try to stop herself from busting out in laughter. No matter what her husband may deny, it seemed that friendship was exactly what the two ghosts had.

The poltergeist scoffed noisily and rolled his eyes. "Think what ya want, woman."

Irene sent Betelgeuse another grin, then continued with her goodbyes. "I will see you both at the next appointment. Geuse, you know how to get a hold of me and please do if anything should happen."

He tipped his head in acknowledgment and he addressed her with a sly smirk. "You will be the first to know if it does. See ya Mercury."

Irene gave him another pointed look, then rolled her eyes. She ignored the cheeky dead man and waved goodbye to his wife. "Bye Lydia."

The young mother gestured back and watched as the midwife stepped through the make shift door and shut it behind her.

Betelgeuse quickly juiced it closed, before he turned to his wife and rubbed his stomach. "Babe, you think we can have lunch early? I'm starvin'."

Lydia laughed at her husband's antics and shook her dark mane at him. "Sure, come on. I'll make you some of those chicken sandwiches that you like." Her stomach rumbled loudly and caused the young mother to chuckle some more, then rest her hand on her own belly. "I guess I'm kind of hungry myself."

The specter gave his hungry spouse a wink, as he adjusted his daughter on his hip and directed a smile at the little girl. "How about you Bug? You hungry?" He poked the small child in the belly and a giggle sprang from her along with a tiny bob of her head. The poltergeist barked out a laugh and made his way to the kitchen.

Later that night had the couple curled up on the couch watching an action movie that had taken far too long to decide on. Both had wanted to watch a different kind of movie; Betelgeuse had wanted a dark comedy, and Lydia had coveted something that was Action packed. When they couldn't come to an agreement, the couple had decided to flip for it. Tails for her and head for him. Her husband had lost, though she couldn't help but wonder if he had let her win. Lydia swore that it had landed on heads. Not that it mattered because they would most likely end up watching the one he wanted afterwards.

Her lids started to become heavy as she tried to concentrate on the characters on the screen. Lydia blinked her eyes several times to attempt to stay awake. Right now, she couldn't let herself fall asleep. They rarely got any time alone and with the baby coming they would have even less. They had to take what they could get and at night seemed to be the only time that they were able to sit down and be with one another.

She felt the cool fingers of her husband's stroke along the length of her arm and his smoky voice rose over the tv. "Babe, ya still awake?"

Lydia cocked her head to the side to peer up and whisper at him. "Yeah, I'm still up."

Betelgeuse flashed a toothy smile down at her and snapped his fingers to produce something in his hand. "Good. I have somethin' for ya."

'What…?' Lydia silently thought as she pulled herself up on the couch and eyed the small package in her husband's grip. "You got me something?"

Betelgeuse moved so that he was facing his tiny wife and shook his shaggy head. "Yeah, I did."

Why would he do that? It wasn't like there was a special occasion to celebrate. She was genuinely perplexed as to why he would want to give her something. Lydia couldn't help but voice her bewilderment. "Why?"

The poltergeist rolled his green eyes then released a snort before he spoke. "Woman, do I need a reason to get my wife somethin'?"

No, it just wasn't something that she was used to. Sadly, the guys that she had dated weren't the gift giving type. Lydia ran a hand through her raven strands and sighed softly. "Of course not. I just didn't expect anything that' s all."

"Yeah. Well, expect this shit from time to time." He quickly pushed the package into her hand and waited for her to open it. "Go on and open it, Sweets."

Lydia inspected the dark bundle as she rotated it slowly in her hand. It looked to be some type of jewelry case. She studied the box for the opening and carefully lifted the lid to reveal a gorgeous necklace. "Oh my…it's beautiful, Betelgeuse." She gently took it out and dangled it in front of her to get a better look. The black chain was long and thin, while the matching beetle was the size of a silver dollar and the jewel embedded in the center glowed brightly in the darkness. It truly was a stunning piece and distinctively her taste. Lydia was surprised that her husband knew her so well, especially with them only being together for 3 months. How did he know all this? Was she really that transparent? All the young woman knew was that this man just kept amazing her the longer that they were together.

Betelgeuse flashed another toothy grin and reached out to delicately take the necklace from her hold. "I thought you'd like it. Here Babes, let me help you put it on."

Nodding, Lydia twisted so that her back was to him as she lifted her long hair to allow her husband easier access. His cool breath tickled the shell of her ear, while he leaned in and lifted the chain in front of her. He drew the necklace around her neck to clasp it closed, then inclined back to let her turn around to face him. Lydia gently touched the beetle as she softly thanked him. "Betelgeuse, Thank you. I love it."

He sent her a wink this time, before kicking back on the couch with his feet moving to rest on the coffee table. "You're welcome, Sweets."

Her gaze refocused on the beetle pendant and her fingers curled around it. She carefully picked it up and moved the adornment from side to side. Lydia watched as the green hue shifted then eyed the poltergeist. "The color of the jewel glows like your eyes." She internally cringed because she knew that sounded cheesy, but it was true. The shade really did match her husbands.

Betelgeuse swung his attention from her to the necklace then back as he locked his hands behind his head and sprouted a huge grin. "Rrrreeeeally…. They glow, Sweets?"

Lydia felt a blush creep up her neck and to her face but tried to cover it with a nervous laugh and a quick shake of her head. "Stop teasing me, B."

He wiggled his brows and his chest shook from his own laughter. "I just can't help myself. You're too damn cute." The poltergeist laughed some more, before he sobered up. "Babes, you wanna know why it looks like that?" Lydia nodded quickly as she waited for him to continue. Betelgeuse unlocked his fingers and leaned forward to brush a few locks off her forehead, while he continued to talk. "It's like that, Baby, cuz it has some of my juice infused in it."

Her dark eyes closed for a second as his fingertips grazed her skin, then opened them when he pulled away. She furrowed her brows as she thought about what he had just said. The pendant was imbued with his juice? Why would he do that? What was the reason to juice this piece? Lydia was certain that there was a good reason as to why. With this man there was always some method to whatever he did. He had a plan for a plan for another plan. She gazed back down to the necklace then to her husband and questioned him. "What…? Why is it infused with your power?"

The poltergeist popped his feet off the table and sat up. He grasped one of her hands between his own, before he answered her inquiry. "Babe, it's to keep you and Bug safe. If you should ever need me, all ya have to do is say my name three times. Just like old times, though It will only work for you. I don't need some asshat thinkin' that they can control me. That shit will never happen again."

A frown marred her lips as she looked at her husband in confusion. "But…we're already safe with you…"

Betelgeuse lifted her hand and turned it over to kiss the palm, then pulled back to look at her. "I know ya are, Sweets, but it would make me feel better if ya had somethin' for when I'm not around. Call it a security measure of sorts. It's just like our warning system. Plus, I'm not sayin' anything is gonna happen. It's just in case of an emergency."

Lydia didn't say anything as she thought on his words. What he said made sense and if she were honest with herself, it made her feel better to know that her husband would be only three words from them. After the events that had happened with Luke, she had realized that shit could happen at any moment. It was better to be prepared than to have nothing at all. Her captured hand squeezed his affectionately and a warm smile flashed at him in return. "If it makes you feel better, then I will wear it always."

He brought her hand up to his cool lips again, but this time to kiss her knuckles. "Good. Now let's finish that movie of yours. I think we miss a helluva lot of it." Betelgeuse sent her a wink as his hand released hers then moved to lie down on the couch. He lightly patted the spot in front of him and watched as she shifted from her current position to the one she had before. A content sigh escaped as her head went to rest on his arm, while his other hand lightly caressed her abdomen and a leg draped over his own.

Lydia reached above her head and blindly felt for the remote on the side table. Her hand found the small piece of plastic and snatched it up to rewind the video to the part where they had stopped watching. Once the scene was located, she pressed play and they settled comfortably in to finish it.

When the credits rolled, the pregnant woman spoke softly to her husband. "Betelgeuse, Can I ask you something?"

She felt him shrug his shoulders as he used the remote to change the movie to something else. "Sure Babe."

"How did you meet Irene?" Lydia had been wondering this for some time, especially after their appointment. The midwife had stated that they were friends, even though her husband had denied it. You could see that they had some type of friendship. She turned to lay on her back so that she could stare up at him as he flicked through the movies on the tv.

Betelgeuse must have found what had wanted, because theme music blared out of the speakers and he tossed the remote on the side table. "I helped her out when she first woken up. "

Her brows furrowed together, and confusion colored her tone. "Woken up? What is that?"

He brushed some hair out of her face and answered her question. "That's what we call it after we die, Babe. We wake up like we were just sleepin'."

"Oh…" Lydia couldn't stop her curiosity as she wondered about her husband's own awakening. The words sprang forth before she could stop them. "So…When did you wake up?" She bit her bottom lip and regretted not curbing her inquisitiveness. He had told her countless times that deaths were private and shouldn't be brought up unless the deceased chose to.

The poltergeist didn't say anything for a couple of minutes as if he were debating with himself. His fingers ran through his light mop and he swallowed roughly, while his tone came out low and shaky. "October 29th…."

Lydia's mouth fell open and couldn't believe what he had just said. "You're kidding, right?"

Betelgeuse shook his head and rubbed his face, before he blew out a deep breath and spoke. "Naw, I don't kid about that, Sweets. You don't forget the day ya awaken."

Maybe they really were meant to be with each other. What else could it be? It seemed too much of a coincidence. "Betelgeuse…that's my birthday."

His hand dropped from face and his own mouth dropped open. "Seriously, Babe?" She nodded her raven head and he moved to lean over her with a triumphant grin. "See I told ya Baby…We are meant to be."

Lydia's dark eyes danced with mischief and a large smile of her own grew, as her hand went up to caress his cheek. "Destiny or some shit like that?"

His eyes glowed brightly as he towered above her. "Fuck yeah, Babes." Betelgeuse hooted loudly, then swooped in to kiss her soundly.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! I finally finished this chapter and I like it more than the last one. I really enjoyed writing the interaction between Irene and Betelgeuse and I hope to get more into their friendship in later chapters. Betelgeuse needs friends too and ones that will call him on his bullshit. Also, all the names that Betelgeuse used were referring to her silver hair. I'm sure you all figured that out, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.
> 
> I'm not sure when the next update will be, but it will be some time soon. Thank you all for the comments and I am glad that you are still enjoying my story.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with the Beetlejuice franchise, nor do I make any money from this. The only thing I own is Lucy and Irene and I'm okay with that. The rest I just borrow for my own twisted amusement.

Fall was swiftly upon them as the leaves began to turn various shades of orange, red and yellow. They littered the lawns and sidewalks here and there and the sound of footfalls and crunching echoed everywhere.

This was the time of year in Connecticut that Lydia loved, and it was prime for capturing some beautiful pieces. Now that the desire to whip out her camera had returned, the young mother wanted to get back in the swing of things. She had to say that it was nice to feel the weight of the device in her hands and to hear the snap of the shutter once again. Her lips twisted into a frown as her thoughts moved to the reason she had stopped to begin with. Lydia couldn't believe that she had allowed a certain douchebag to rob her of something so important. Never would she let anyone have that much power over her again.

A sigh escaped as she chased away her thoughts and focused on the leaves that danced across her lawn. It was a gorgeous scene and had Lydia wishing that she could slip outside to capture the moment. The urge would have to wait though as it was an appointment day and the first time that they would try to hear their baby's heartbeat.

A sudden rush of excitement overshadowed the impulse and one of her hands trailed down to her abdomen and cradled it lightly, while a smile graced her features. They were going to hear their baby's heartbeat! The elation grew, and the smile on her face widened as she caressed her lower belly then turned her dark eyes from the window to her husband and midwife. She watched as the two squabbled with one another over the workings of the medical equipment.

The silver-haired midwife had her hands on her hips as she questioned the clearly annoyed poltergeist. "Are you sure this is going to work Geuse?"

The dead man just rolled his green eyes and huffed loudly. "I told ya that the electronics are juiced, Irene. They should work for ya just like they did when you were a breather."

Irene sent the pregnant woman sitting on the table a raised brow then softly snorted and thumbed in the direction of the fetal doppler. "He says that this thing will work, so why don't you lie down Lydia and we will see."

Betelgeuse looked at the dead woman in outrage and harshly barked out his words. "Oi, it will work woman! Why does everyone question my judgement? I know what my power can and can't do!"

The midwife scoffed as she made her way to the hand-held doppler. "Your past actions say otherwise, so if it blows ups I'm holding you accountable, Geuse."

The poltergeist ran a hand roughly through his messy hair and stomped his foot in frustration. "Fuckin'-A, Nothin' is gonna blow up! I'm not gonna put no one in danger, so don't be overly dramatic."

She turned to face the couple and planted a hand on her hip once again while she raised her brows. "Who says I'm being overly dramatic? I'd say it's more like realistic. Now are you going to let me do my job or are you going to continue to interfere?"

"I ain't interfering with nothin'." Betelgeuse swept his hands in front of him and mockingly bowed. "Continue on, Quicksilver." Irene glared and pinched her lips together as she shook her head at him. The practitioner went to snag the doppler then made her way back to her waiting patient.

Lydia giggled at the two and watched as Irene turned to her with a sigh and a small smile before she spoke. "Okay back to the appointment." Irene approached Lydia and explained what may or may not happen when they do the doppler. "Please know that there is a chance that we will not catch the heartbeat this time around. If we don't find it today, then we will try again at our next appointment. Okay?"

Lydia returned her rely with a nod as Irene moved in to place the doppler on her belly.

The sound of her own heart beat could be heard through the doppler speaker, while Irene swiveled the device in several places. "Hmmm…" She made a few sounds as she moved it around and only stopping when a faster beating filtered in with the louder one. "There is it!" The midwife turned to the couple and smiled brightly.

Liquid pooled in Lydia's brown eyes and her lip quivered slightly as the sound of their baby's heartbeat came out clear and strong. It was beautiful and tangible. Not that it hadn't felt real to the young mother but seeing a urinated stick and hearing your unborn child's heartbeat were two very different things. Hearing the powerful thumps was the sweet confirmation that there was indeed a tiny being growing within her womb. It was one thing to know that she was pregnant, but it was another to hear the proof. Her hand slid over to grasp her husband's and gave it a squeeze to draw his attention. "Betelgeuse…"

The poltergeist looked over at her with wide eyes and his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed roughly. "Shit Sweetheart…that's…our baby?" Lydia shook her head while the tears finally began to spill down her cheeks. Betelgeuse's gaze softened at the sight of her waterworks and tried to ease them. "Hey Baby. Come on, don't cry." His other hand reached out to wipe away the trails then cupped her cheek.

She leaned into his touch and flashed him a watery smile. "I can't help it. I'm just so happy."

He let go of her cheek and brought the hand he was holding up to his lips to kiss her knuckles. The same emotion overcame him as he grazed her glowing features and couldn't help the twitch of his lips against her smooth skin. Betelgeuse pulled back to give her a large smirk of his own and tried to convey that sentiment to his emotional wife. "Me too, Sweets. More than I have ever been dead or alive."

Lydia's wet eyes expanded at his revelation and sucked in a sharp breath before gawking up at him owlishly. Her mind suddenly swirled with countless questions. Was he serious? He was happier than he had ever been alive? Surely that couldn't be true? Before their family, he had to have had another one. Was he saying that he hadn't been content in his prior life? "Really?"

His green eyes lit up and he sent her a sharp nod while his voice held his conviction. "Fuck yeah! You and our kids are the best thing to ever happen to me!" Betelgeuse kissed her hand again then grinned even wider. "Baby, you guys keep me grounded and sane." He winked at her and wiped away the rest of the droplets on her face. "Now enough with the tears, Sweetheart."

Her eyes closed for a second as his fingertips glided lightly across her cheekbone. She softly sniffled, then beamed brightly at him with a shake of her dark mane. "Okay. I'll try."

Betelgeuse lifted her hand to his lips one more time and drew back with another toothy grin. "That's my girl." Lydia returned it with one of her own and squeezed his cool hand affectionately.

A clearing of the throat dragged the couple away from each other to the waiting Practitioner. Irene smiled kindly at them and continued with what she had to say. "Sorry to interrupt you folks, but we should really continue with the appointment."

The young mother's face flushed with color while she hastily shook her head and returned the midwife's smile. Her husband chuckled loudly and waved off the dead woman with his hand. "Naw, you're good."

"If you say so Geuse." Irene raised her silver brows as she pulled the doppler away and stepped back from the examination table.

The poltergeist helped his tiny partner straighten her clothes and sit up while they waited for the midwife to continue.

Irene switched off the device and directed a reassuring smile their way. Her tone was gentle and reassuring as she spoke. "So, you two, it seems like everything is going quite well. The baby's heartbeat sounds very strong and doesn't appear to show any irregularities." She came closer and lightly patted Lydia's knee. "You my dear, are doing all the right things to ensure a healthy pregnancy. Do either of you have any concerns or questions?"

Lydia shifted her gaze to her husband with raised brows as if to silently ask him if he had any. He indicated that he did not, and she turned back to the midwife with a quick shake. "No, we don't have any."

"Okay. If you do end up with any. Please feel free to contact me or just let me know at your next appointment." The midwife stated while she stepped back once again and slowly began to put away her supplies.

Betelgeuse carefully helped his pregnant wife from the table and watched as the dead women finished her packing then turned her attention back to them.

Irene held a folder against her chest as she said her goodbyes to the couple. "Well Folks, I should be going." The practitioner waved and carefully made her way to make-shift door. "I will see you both at the next appointment. Bye you two."

"Bye Irene." Lydia returned with the same gesture, while her husband wrapped his arm around her waist and cocked his head at the midwife. "See ya, Iron Maiden."

A snort left the practitioner and she rolled eyes at one of the many ridiculous nicknames the dead man likes to bestow upon her. "Yeah, Yeah, Geuse. See you." With that said, Irene waved once more then snapped the door closed behind her and left the couple standing alone in their family room.

Betelgeuse rested his pale cheek against his wife's dark crown and lightly caressed her growing bump. "That was a trip, wasn't it Babe?"

Lydia practically vibrated with happiness as she twisted to look up at him. "Yeah, it definitely was." Her tiny hand moved to clutch his button down and beamed widely. "Holy shit, we're having a baby! I cannot wait to meet him or her!"

The poltergeist's rough laughter rumbled throughout the room and he leaned in to gently kiss her temple. "Neither can I sweets."

She sighed heavily and laid her head against his broad chest. Her pointer finger came up to make small circles on his clothed pec as she asked him a question. "B, what do you think our little bean is?"

The dead man snorted and spoke with humor laced in his tone. "Human…"

Lydia stopped drawing circles and swatted his chest lightly before rolling her eyes. "Ha ha. You're so funny. Seriously though, what do think we are having?"

The small woman felt her husband shrug and blow out a large breath of air. "Babes, I really don't care what it is as long as it's healthy and strong. Boy. Girl. It makes no difference to me."

"Yeah…" She went back to drawing circles while she continued. "That's what I was thinking too. Though I wouldn't mind a boy since we already have a girl, but I'd be happy with either."

Betelgeuse grazed his lips against her crown and pulled back to raise up his free arm to check the time. He glanced at his watch then released a low groan. "Babes, I hate to cut our conversation short, but I gotta get going. We will talk more on this tonight, okay?"

Lydia released another sigh and stepped away from her husband with a pout and a small shrug. "Sure…"

His hand reached up and brushed some loose strands from her face before trying to sooth the hormonal upset. "Awe sweetheart, don't be like that. I don't want to go either, but duty calls." Betelgeuse ran his fingers roughly through his raggedy mane then fixed his jacket as he remembered something. "Oh yeah. I just wanna let you know that my appointments may run a little late, so I don't think I'll make lunch. You gonna be okay with that?"

"Yeah…I'll be fine." She leaned in and raised up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the lips. "I'll miss you though."

Betelgeuse snagged her waist and dragged her to him. His cool breath tickled her lips while he softly spoke. "I'll miss ya too. Fuck, I always do. It's only for a couple of hours, though, and I'll be home early tonight. All right?" His cool green eyes scanned her features and watched her shake her head at his words. He smiled broadly and closed the distance between their lips to kiss her thoroughly, before he pulled back to peer at his watch once again. Another groan spilled from him as he let go of his tiny wife and stepped back. "I really need to go Sweets. I will see ya tonight, Babe." The poltergeist leaned in to give her a quick kiss goodbye then popped quickly out of sight.

The pregnant woman stared at the spot where her husband had just been and sighed deeply. She really didn't want him to go. No, she wanted him to stay so they could continue to revel in the wonderous moment. It was so very special, and Lydia didn't want to be alone to enjoy it. All she wanted was her damn husband to be with her. Tears started to pool in her dark eyes and she cursed aloud. "Ugh! Stupid hormones!" She wiped the liquid from her vision and sniffled. Christ she was being silly and a little irrational. Okay…it was more than a little, but she couldn't help the way she was feeling. These hormones got out of hand at times and struck when they weren't really needed.

Taking in some calm breaths, Lydia tried to relax and realized that she needed to do something to unwind. Her gaze moved to the coffee table and spotted her camera. That's right! Earlier she had wanted to go snap some shots, and this would be a perfect time to settle down. Yes, she would go outside for a bit, and It would be good for Lulu as well. With that decided, Lydia went about to bundle up herself and Lulu, before grabbing her camera and heading outside.

Several hours after the outing found the pregnant mother relaxing on the couch feeling much calmer and more centered then she had earlier that morning. It seemed that capturing some shots was just what she had needed to sooth her unstable emotions.

Lydia reached out to grab a cracker, while her other hand held tightly to her Lemonade as she waited for Lucy to wake up from her nap. She nibbled around the edges of the biscuit to try and curb the nausea that occasionally sprang out of nowhere. Morning sickness her ass. The nausea hit at anytime and anywhere. It was as bad as the damn mood swings. She really hoped that it went away soon.

Lydia lifted the tart beverage and slowly sipped from it as she mused on the fact that normally she disliked sour things. It wasn't her thing. No, she was more into sugary goodness. Ooh, a big and fluffy cotton candy sounded nice now. Hmm…did they even have lemon cotton candy? Her mouth began to water at the thought.

Crap! Now Lydia wanted that instead of her lemonade. Her bottom lip protruded, and her brows furrowed, while a remorseful sigh released in the air. Damn, these cravings were going to eventually overwhelm her! Thank god that her husband could get whatever she hungered for whenever the urge struck. Lydia wondered if her husband would be able to find some of that candyfloss? If not, perhaps he could get her that lemon tart she had when she had went shopping last? Her mouth began to water again at the thought of the flaky and tarty pastry. Awe shit! Now she had a hankering for that delicious tart too. Ugh! Stupid longings were going to be the death of her!

Finishing the rest of her cracker, Lydia tried to shake the sudden yearning and clear her mind for the tasks at hand. Some things still needed to be completed before the day was through. She set the drink down on the side table and went back to folding the laundry that she had taken a mini break from.

A few minutes passed as she gathered the articles of clothing and placed them in their separate baskets. Lydia paused in mid fold when the doorbell resounded throughout the room. She laid the towel to the side, while her brows furrowed once again, and her thoughts drifted to who it might be. It wasn't like she had been very social these last couple of years, not since meeting Luke and becoming pregnant. Sadly, she lost many ties because of both.

The bell continued to ring, and the young mother let out a groan before slowly pulling herself off the couch. She snagged the baby monitor from the stand then quickly made her way to the entry.

Upon opening the front door, Lydia spied two men dressed in suits standing on her threshold. They stepped back when she went to open the screen door and greeted them. "Hello, how may I help you gentlemen?"

The larger one of the duo stepped forward and flashed her a friendly smile before showing his badge. "Hello Ma'am. I'm Detective Sigerson and this is my partner, Detective Olson. We are looking for someone by the name of Lydia Deetz."

Why were detectives here asking for her? Her stomach twisted into knots and a nervous feeling overcame her. Something was not right. Lydia pushed down her nerves and forced a smile as her hold tightened on the screen door handle. "I'm Lydia Deetz, well it was Deetz. I just recently got married, so it's Geist now."

The one called Olson saddled up next to his partner and grinned widely. "Congratulations, Mrs. Geist."

She aimed her force smile at him then questioned both detectives. "Thank you. Now what was it that you wanted to speak to me about?"

Detective Sigerson cleared his throat and tipped his head in the direction of the doorway. "Do you mind if we come in and ask you a few questions?"

"Sure…" Lydia shrugged her shoulder and nodded, while she opened the screen door to allow them access. "Please come in."

The investigators sidled by and waited as she shut the door then steered them to the kitchen where she motioned to the empty chairs. "Please have a seat." Both detectives pulled a chair and sat down, while Lydia continued to stand. "Would either of you like something to drink? I have some coffee or lemonade?"

Detective Sigerson shook his head no, while his partner vocalized his answer aloud and presented another friendly smile. "Yes ma'am. A lemonade sounds good."

Lydia placed the baby monitor on the table before moving away to get the officer and herself some lemonade. Shortly she returned with two glasses of the tarty beverage and carefully set the drink in front of the detective. With her own drink in hand, Lydia pulled a seat across from them and sat down to wait for either one of them to speak.

Officer Olson drank deeply from his cup and subsequently turned his full attention to her as he finally announced why they were there. "Now… do you know a person by the name of Lucas Johnson?"

Shit, this was about Luke? Why were they here about him? The knot in her stomach tightened and she felt a wave of nausea hit her. Christ, she couldn't get sick. Lydia tried to shake the feeling and prayed that she wouldn't blow chucks across the table. Yes, that would go over well.

The nauseated women sucked in some shallow breaths and reached out to take a small sip of her lemonade. The sensation began to dim slightly, and she was able to think a little more clearly. 'Buck up Lydia! You married the most terrifying poltergeist in the Netherworld. You can't be a puss now. Damnit, you can do this!' Lydia berated herself silently and attempted to come up with some solutions. Okay, all she needed to do was plow through these questions and try to calm her damn nerves, so she didn't come off as hiding something. Not that she was. She didn't do anything to Luke and truly had no idea where he was or what happened to him but didn't think these two detectives would give a lick about that. Another fake smile appeared on her face as she forced some brightness into her tone. "Yes, I do. We dated at one point and he is the biological father of my daughter."

Lydia watched one of the investigators' scribble something on a small notebook then turn his gaze in her direction to ask another question. "Have you seen him recently?"

Of course, she hasn't seen him recently. Not since the night he tried to hurt them, and she had to get Betelgeuse involved. Lydia wasn't going to tell these officers that, though. Some things would never slip passed her lips. She lifted the drink again and sipped some more before shaking her head. "No and to be honest with the both of you. I haven't seen him since the day that he beat the crap out of me for wanting to stay pregnant." Okay so it wasn't a total lie. It was just the wrong day. Her husband had told her it was better to stay as close to the truth that you could, so that it was more believable. Also, it lowered the risk of inconsistencies.

Detective Olson quietly sat watching her, most likely looking for irregularities between her speech and body language. Well, he could stare all he wanted, but she refused to give them any reason to suspect her or her husband. On the outside she would play it cool, while her nerves ran rampant inside.

The officer rubbed around the edge of the glass then finally spoke. "That would be the reason you filed for a protection order?"

Lydia tried not to roll her dark eyes at the senseless question and bit her tongue to stop the sarcastic retort that wanted to spill forth. No, she did it for shits and giggles. "Yes."

Olson didn't miss a beat and continued with his line of questioning. "And Mr. Johnson hasn't tried to contact you since then? Not even to see his child?"

She snorted loudly while her tone cooled considerably. "Why would he? He never wanted a child and had made that clear that day. I haven't seen or spoken to him, but I did receive termination of rights papers in the mail about four months ago." Chew on that tidbit boys.

The detective's faces lit up in surprise and shot a wayward glance at one another. It was Detective Sigerson who spoke first, while his partner jotted something down in his notes. "Would we be able to see them?"

Um…No, they couldn't see them. Lydia didn't have them and had no clue what Betelgeuse had done with the papers. Shit. She would have to bullshit some. Oh, her husband would be so proud. Aiming an apologetic expression at the men, she sighed softly and tried to convey the same emotion in her tone. "Actually, I can't get to them right now. Sorry. They are lock in the file cabinet in my husband's office and unfortunately, he has the key." That was believable, right? It would be understandable that her husband would have the key to something that important. She prayed that the persistent investigators would buy it.

Investigator Olson glanced at his watch before giving her a response. "Well Mrs. Geist, we would like to see them. When will your husband be home?"

Lydia glanced at the clock on the wall behind the officers and noted that Betelgeuse wouldn't be home for a few hours. Damn. She didn't want these men to have to come back, so if she could stall them long enough for her to somehow contact Betelgeuse that would be great. "He should be here at any time now. Would you like to wait? He'll be able to show you the paper work then."

Sigerson looked at Olson who shook his head yes then turned back to her. "We will wait for your husband to come home."

'Great.' Lydia thought to herself as she sent both officers another phony smile.

Detective Olson cleared his throat and asked for some clarification on the information that she had just given them. "So, let me get this straight, the only contact you have had with Mr. Johnson was with the termination papers?"

'No, but you don't need to know that.' She silently thought, while moving in to take a drink before answering the man. "Yes. It was the only contact I have had with him."

"Herrrhem," Investigator Sigerson made a noise in his throat as he finished writing and eyed her inquisitively. "Has your husband ever met Mr. Johnson?"

Lydia's lips pursed with a quick shake of her dark mane and a shrug of her shoulders. "Not that I know of."

"So…you began dating your husband after your break up with Mr. Johnson?" Sigerson asked hesitantly as if he were weighting his words carefully and hedging around something.

Wait a second! Were they trying to see if she had been seeing Betelgeuse while dating Luke? Really? She wasn't that type of woman and didn't need the added drama that it could cause. Seriously people! She had enough trouble with the asshole abusing her to even think about cheating. 'Ugh!.' Lydia mentally cried and stopped the sneer that she wanted to direct at the officer.

Shaking off the irritating question, the greatly annoyed woman tried to focus on the task at hand. She needed to come up with something to tell the officers, because spilling the origins of her relationship with Betelgeuse was out of the question. Yeah, that would go well. 'Um, you see officers. I met my husband while I was an overly dramatic and morose teenager. He wanted to marry me then, but that didn't work out. Though I had to get him involved when my abusive ex tried to kill my child and me. Oh, did I mention that he's dead and has supernatural powers.' Yep they'd think she was straight up crazy and land her ass in jail.

Lydia surmised that there was only one thing she could do. She'd have to bullshit her way through this as well. Christ, when would this be over with? Her fingers rubbed up and down the glass and smeared the condensation as she spoke. "Yes, we started dating after my breakup with Luke, though we knew each other beforehand. Benjamin and I used to date when we were younger, but as you know young love doesn't always last. We ended up going to different colleges and sadly drifted apart. I ran into him when he was on a job and that's pretty much it." Damn. The young mother didn't realize that she could lie so easily. Hell, she was even beginning to believe the crap coming out of her mouth.

The two men seemed to buy her story and continued with their intrusive questioning. "Do you know if Mr. Johnson was aware of your new relationship?"

The fact that there hadn't been a relationship prior, she'd have to say a big fat no. So, this time there'd be no reason to lie. "Like I said, I haven't seen him, so I don't know if he knew or not."

One of the officers opened their mouth to respond to her retort but was interrupted by the sudden cry from the baby monitor. "Daaaaaadaaaaa…..Daaaaadaaaa…."

Lydia silently thank her cranky child then turned to the investigators with an apologetic expression. "Oh dear, I guess nap time is over. If you both will excuse me for a moment." Her hand went up to skim her beetle necklace and realized that this was the opportunity she had needed to summon her husband. 'Thank you, Lulu baby!' she thought to herself as she stood up from her seat.

Officer Sigerson tipped his head and snapped his notepad closed. "Please Mrs. Geist, go ahead and get your little girl. We can wait, ma'am."

"Thank you. I will be right back gentlemen." Lydia reached over to shut off the monitor, so it wouldn't bother the men at the table and to avoid the possibilities that they would hear her summoning Betelgeuse. That would be another hard one to explain.

The anxious woman swiftly left the kitchen and made her down the hallway to her daughter's room. Once inside, Lydia stopped to flick off the monitor just in case those detectives had switched the one in the kitchen back on. Call her paranoid or simply she was just being cautious. Maybe her husband was merely rubbing off on her.

Hurrying to the crib, Lydia spied her daughter rubbing her sleep crusted eyes then go on all fours and crawl to the barrier. She latched onto the bars with her chubby hands and pulled her little body up. Peering over the rim, the small child's lip wobbled, and watery eyes stared up at her mother while she continued to call for her father. "Daaaadaaaa."

Sighing deeply and gently reaching out, Lydia swooped up her weepy child and drew Lucy to her side. She pressed a kiss to the top of her crown and softly cooed into her blonde curls. "Sssh…I know baby. I want daddy too."

Closing her brown eyes, she tried to not let the nerves that she had pushed down bubble to the surface. Lydia needed to call her husband and he would know what to do. He would know how to fix this, just like that night. Hell, he most likely had a plan for this very situation.

Her free hand dragged up her stomach and grasped the necklace nestled between her breasts. She licked her parched lips and whispered her husband's name. "Betelgeuse…Betelgeuse…Betelgeuse…"

Lydia felt the atmosphere in the room change and the swirl of Betelgeuse's power surround them like a warm blanket. His smoky timber hit her ears and it seemed like her anxiety vanished as quickly as it had come. "Babes?" Her eyes flew open and her vision blurred at the sight of him. She couldn't help the large rush of relief that washed over when her dark pools connected with his bright ones. Her lip trembled and as if on their own accord, her feet began to move in his direction. Within seconds she was in his hold with her face burrowed against his broad chest.

Betelgeuse's light brows furrowed as one of his arms wrapped around his wife and child, while the other went up to lightly stroke the back of her head. His gruff tone was laced with confusion and his words were aimed at trying to sooth and figure out what was going on. "Hey, I'm here, Sweets. Shit, what has you all freaked out?"

Her voice was muffed as she spoke into his upper body, causing the poltergeist to pull slightly away. His hand left the back of her head and moved to her chin to carefully expose her face, so he could properly hear what she had to say. Betelgeuse brushed his fingertips along her jaw line then cupped her cheek. "Baby you need to calm down. I can't understand ya with that mug of yours buried in my chest. Now tell me what's goin' on."

Lydia bit her lip to stop the trembling and cleared her throat of the tightness that had developed before answering her husband. "There are two detectives here and they are looking for Luke. I guess someone reported him missing. Betelgeuse, they were asking a lot of questions. I…I'm not sure what to do?"

The poltergeist's gaze softened as he leaned in to skim her warm lips with his own. Her lids closed at the contact, and a shaky breath left her small form. He stroked her cheek and gently whispered against her skin. "You don't have to do nothin', okay? I got this shit."

Betelgeuse pulled her closer and swiped her bottom lip with his thumb. "Baby, hey, Look at me." Lydia's warm eyes opened and met the cool ones of her husband. The dead man sent her a tender smile and ran his thumb over her soft appendage once again. "Everything will be fine. You just get Bug calm and I'll handle the rest. Daddy's comin' home early." His gentle smile turned into a wicked grin as he flashed her a wink and leaned in to give her a quick kiss. Betelgeuse then pulled back and fixed her with another wink, before he ruffled Lucy's little noggin and disappeared.

As quickly as her husband left, their young child began to fuss her complaints. Lydia bounced her lightly on her hip, while trying to soothe her. "Ssh, Lulu. Daddy will be right back. Mama promises." Still Lucy's fretting lingered, so Lydia tried something that sometimes worked in this circumstance. "Come on Lulu love. Let's go get some yum yums."

The fussing began to dim though Lucy still called out for her daddy. The little girl sniffled and blinked at her mother with wet eyes. "Daadaa."

Lydia went to respond when Lucy's little belly gurgled loudly. The flustered mother busted into laughter then smiled widely at her baby girl. She gently poked Lucy's tummy, then tickled it slightly. "Looks like someone's belly is hungry." Lucy giggled in return and bopped her tiny head, while she patted her stomach. "UmUm."

Another round of laughter overcame the young mother and she quickly nodded at her tiny child. "Yeah yum yums."

Moving towards the doorway, Lydia heard the entrance of the garage shut loudly and shortly after, the sound of her husband's voice echo throughout the house. "Babes?" He must have stepped into the kitchen, because she noticed that his tone dropped sharply. "Who are you and why ya in my kitchen?"

Lydia slowly made her way down the hallway and listen to the conversation beginning in the other room.

The poltergeist eyed the two men as he moved deeper into the kitchen and placed the bag in his hands on the counter. He swiveled around and leaned against the edge to face them.

The two investigators approached him with friendly smiles and the smaller one spoke first. "Hello sir, you must be Mr. Geist?"

Betelgeuse raised a brow and locked his arms over his chest. He tilted his head in conformation and sent the strange men a questioning gaze. "Yeah that's me and it's just Benjamin. What can I do for you fellas?"

The larger detective stepped forward and made the introductions. "Well Benjamin, I'm Detective Sigerson and this is my partner, Detective Olson. We are investigating the disappearance of Lucas Johnson. Do you know this man?"

The poltergeist shook his shaggy dome and didn't bother to hide the disgust in his tone. "Naw, I never had the pleasure of meetin' him."

The one called Olson raised his bushy brows at the unveiled repulsion and had the man shooting off the next question. "So, you do know who he is then?"

Of course, he knew who the piece of shit was. The little prick was an abusive fuck who got what was coming to him. Betelgeuse snorted noisily then sneered in the direction of the investigators. "Yeah I know who he is. I also know what he did to my wife and tried to do to my kid."

Detective Sigerson's own brow rose at the change in tone of the man in front of them and seemed to use that to the investigator's advantage. "Were you mad about that?"

Hell yeah. More than these fuckers could ever know. The poltergeist had never been so furious in his entire life, dead or alive. He saw red that night and it wasn't the blood that splattered across the walls and floor of his humble abode. Just thinking about it now was making the dampened embers of fury begin to smolder. Betelgeuse shoved down the feeling and tried to ease the edge out of his voice. "Yes sir. Wouldn't you be?" His hands dropped to his side and one moved to roughly drag his finger through his messy hair. "That woman out there was the one that got away and to know that some asshole put his hands on her; Sure, it fuckin' pissed me off, but there wasn't anythin' I could do about it. It had already been done and he ain't worth my time anyway. I got more important things to worry about then some boy tryin' to play at bein' a man. All I care about is takin' care of my wife and our kids."

The detectives glanced at one another before Officer Olson voiced their silent question. "Kids? We were told that there is only one child."

A grin formed on the dead man's face and his chest puffed with pride as he thought of his bug and unborn child. "For now, there is only Lulu, but we are excepting a little one in April."

Both investigators smiled at the news and sent their regards. "Congratulations. You and your wife must be very happy."

Shit, they were more than happy about the bundle of joy and couldn't wait for the babe to be born. "Indeed, we are."

Detective Sigerson flipped his notepad open and continued with their probing. "Now Benjamin, are you sure that Mr. Johnson has never come by?"

Well fuck him six ways to Friday! These men were trying to trip him up and see if he was going to change his story. It wasn't going to happen. Damn. They must not have many leads if they were fishing this hard. "Nope, not since I've been around. That man has never bothered to come to our home." He wasn't technically lying. At the time it hadn't been his or their home. Not that these fools needed to know that.

The investigator tried to play the question off with a friendly smile. "We only ask, because his current girlfriend is the one who reported him missing. She stated that he was coming to discuss some things with your wife."

Well hell. Who would have thought that the little fucker had some senseless bitch waiting in the wings while he went to murder his kid and ex. Betelgeuse would give his left nut that little snit knew exactly what her lover boy was going to do that night. Yeah, she must be one classy woman and dumber than a box of rocks to boot. He raised his brows as he shrugged his shoulders and lips pinched together. "Well, he never showed his face here. Maybe he saw me and thought twice about approaching Lyds. All I know is that my wife received termination papers from him several months ago and that has been the only contact."

Officer Olson rubbed his chin then he shook his head at the information given. "Yes, your wife mentioned that earlier. She said that you had the keys to the file cabinet and couldn't access them. Would it be possible for us to see them?"

If it would get these men out of their house and hair. Hell, he'd give them a copy of their own and the envelope that conveniently had the little piss ant's fingerprints on it. "Sure. I can give ya it if you'd like?"

A pleased grin slid on the larger officer's face and snapped his notepad closed. "That would be greatly appreciated."

Slowly moving into the room, Lydia quietly made her way to the talking men. She cleared her throat as she came closer to the little group and sent them all a smile before stopping beside her husband. Her smile brightened when her gaze caught his and their daughter squealed and began to squirm in her mother's arms.

The poltergeist returned a toothy smile of his own as he snatched the wriggling child and planted a kiss on his wife's cheek. "Hey Babe." He thumbed in the direction of the counter where he placed the paper bag. "I got ya that Lemon tart thingy you said you liked so much."

Astonishment was written all over her face and appeared to color her tone. "You did?" Her eyes moved to the bag and noticed that it was indeed from that fancy market across town. When did he have time to get that? How the hell did know that she had just been craving it? A giggle bubbled forth as this man surprised her once again. He really was something else. Lydia bounced back and forth on her heels then shot forward to pepper her husband with kisses and gushed happily. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you honey. You are the best husband ever!"

Betelgeuse snorted loudly while rolling his green eyes at her dramatic actions. "Woman it's just a pastry. It's not like I did something heroic."

Lydia pulled back and grinned like a maniac as she fluttered her lashes at him. "To me it is. You are the hero of cravings!" The poltergeist didn't say anything in return just barked out a raspy laugh and shook his head in amusement.

One of the gentlemen behind the couple cleared their throat, while the other began to talk. "Sorry to interrupt you folks."

Oh, that's right, they had company. The newlyweds had completely forgotten about the officers and she had acted like an utter fool in front of them. Oh god, how embarrassing. She forced down the blush that wanted to spring to the surface and turned to the waiting men. She tried to appear nonchalant as she waved at the officers. "That's no problem. Sorry we tend to get distracted sometimes. You know how it is with newlyweds. Our heads are in the clouds." Lydia covered her mouth with her fingers and giggled into them.

Olson scratched the back of his head and gave her a kind smile. "That's okay ma'am. I remember being the same way when me and the missus got hitched."

Sigerson snorted loudly and shoulder bumped his partner. "So, do I. You drove me crazy that whole year."

Detective Olson's face flushed with color and he rubbed the back of his neck as he muttered under his breath. "I wasn't that bad."

His partner snorted again and moved his gaze to Betelgeuse. He tried to steer the conversation back to where it had been originally. "Do you think we can get those papers, Mr. Geist?"

Shit. The poltergeist had forgotten about the papers. Damn woman scrambled his brain whenever she was in his presence. Betelgeuse tipped his blond cranium in the direction of the table and answered the officer. "Sure. Let me just put Bug in her chair and I will go get them for ya."

The officers nodded as the dead man strolled to Lulu's highchair and locked the small child into place before turning to his wife. "Babes, you wanna get her some of those melt thingies you bought the other day?"

Lydia shook the box that she had snagged from the counter and flashed him a wink. "Already ahead of you." She made her way to their child and dumped out a few pieces on her tray. Lucy squealed happily then snatched up the fluffy melts and stuffed them into her mouth. A laugh sprouted from the young mother as she stared at her bubbly child munching away on the pieces.

Lydia dragged her dark eyes from Lucy and trailed them to the quiet detectives who had made their way back to their seats. She smiled at them and wondered if Detective Sigerson would now like something to drink. "Detective Sigerson, are sure you don't want anything to drink? Or maybe something to eat? That Lemon tart is mighty delicious."

Sigerson shook his head and stuffed his notepad in his coat pocket before glancing at his watch. "No thank you ma'am. We have another appointment that we need to get to soon."

She peered over at Officer Olson and offered him some as well. "Detective Olson, would you like some Lemon tart?"

The man declined just like his partner. "It sure does sound good, but I'll have to say no thank you as well."

Seriously neither wanted any. Well she sure did. It was like a thorn poking her side. She couldn't ignore the craving any longer. "Would you both mind if I had some? My craving won't go away until I do."

Both let her know that they did not care if she had some or not. Sigerson shook his head and chuckled to himself. "We don't mind at all. I remember when my wife was pregnant with our last child and her cravings drove her up the wall at times."

The pregnant woman snorted softly and could relate to Sigerson's wife. Up the wall indeed. "I can relate." Lydia said as she hurried to the bag and carefully took out the pastry. She grabbed a knife and plate from the drying rack and went about cutting herself a piece.

Gently moving back to the table with the tart in hand, Lydia set the plate on the surface and sat down. She sent the officer's another smile before digging into the tart. She groaned when the lemony goodness hit her tongue then mumbled to herself. "Oh yeah…That hit the spot."

Her husband's smoky chuckle sprang out of nowhere and drew the attention of the occupants at the table. Betelgeuse casted an amused smile towards his wife, then turned to the detective and handed them the paperwork. "Here you go Officers. These are the papers and the envelope that they came in. I'm not sure if you'd want it, but I thought I'd give it to ya either way."

Detective Sigerson took the bundle and thanked him. "We sure do appreciate this. Thank you, Mr. Geist."

Betelgeuse nodded while trying to convey a genuine concern for the missing asshole. "It is no problem sir. Anything to help."

Both Officers responded back in kind then stood up and bid their goodbyes. "Well folks, we need to be running along. Thank you both for your time and if you hear or receive any information about or from Mr. Johnson. Please contact us."

The dead man stepped towards the entry and reassured the detectives that if they heard anything that they would. "Should we come across any information we will. I will walk you both out and let the little lady finish her tart." Betelgeuse winked at his wife and barked out another laugh as he waited for the officers to follow.

The Investigators seemed to agree and turned to Lydia with a wave. "Goodbye Ma'am. It was nice to meet you."

She returned the gesture with a friendly grin. "Goodbye gentlemen. It was nice to meet you as well." 'Now hurry up and leave.' Lydia thought to herself as she watched them shift their attention back to her husband and follow him out of the room.

When the men disappeared, she let out a relieved breath and rested her elbow on the table before laying her cheek against the palm of her hand. She could not believe that had just happened. Christ, she hadn't thought that anyone would report Luke missing. Hell, it had never crossed her mind. Even gone from her life, he was still causing havoc. Another sigh escaped, and her dark eyes were drawn to the doorway as she heard the clunk of her husband's heavy boots.

Cool and collected as always, Betelgeuse strolled in relaxed and clearly unaffected by the appearance of the police.

How could he be so calm? Does this not bother him at all? Wasn't he worried that they were clearly persons of interest? Lydia bit her lip and nervously asked her husband the question balancing on her tongue. "Do you think they suspect us for his disappearance?"

Betelgeuse shrugged as he approached the table. "Even if they do, Babe. They have no proof. All they have is hearsay and not enough for the DA to charge anyone. They'd have to find some kind of evidence and there is nothin' in the house. They wouldn't find a trace of that dipshit here. I made sure of it." He went to her and gently massaged her tense shoulders. "Come on Lyds, I don't want ya to stress about it, okay? You and I know it's not good for the baby."

"I Know…." The feel of his fingers moving against her tense muscles felt good, but she couldn't stop the worry that gnawed at her insides. "It's just…Aren't you a bit worried? What if they do find something and come back?"

The poltergeist sighed loudly and continued to knead away her unease and tension. His tone was far more serious than it usually was as he spoke. "I'm serious, Baby. You don't need to worry about it." Betelgeuse bent down and kissed her temple before carrying on. "Daddy's got this." He pulled away and winked at her, then released her shoulders to juice another piece of tart in front of her. "Now my gorgeous wife, eat your damn tart."

Daddy, huh? Is that what he's calling himself now? The thought had Lydia forgetting about her anxiety and caused a giggle to bubble passed her lips. She twisted her face up to flash a flirty smirk and bat her lashes rather seductively at him. "Yes daddy." Lydia watched as her husband noisily groaned and adjust his stance as if he were suddenly uncomfortable. She giggled some more, but sharply inhaled when he swooped down to growl hotly in her ear.

His cool breath tickled the shell and caused a shiver to run down her spine. "Babes, you're lucky our kid is up, or you'd be flat on that fuckin' table. Bet your sweet ass that you'd be saying more than yes daddy." Betelgeuse trailed down to her neck and nibbled at the supple skin causing a low moan to rip from her.

Another moan spilled as the familiar flames began to spring to life and slowly licked at her delicate flesh. She felt her husband chuckle against her collarbone then leisurely withdrew with a cocky grin on his features.

Oh, that asshat! He did that on purpose. Eye for an eye kind of bullshit. She couldn't help that he had a daddy fetish and it got him all hot and bothered. Well, now she was in the same damn boat he. Whipping around, Lydia glared at him with a flared bottom lip. "That was not funny."

Betelgeuse boisterously laughed, and his green eyes twinkled with amusement. "Maybe not for you, sweets." His blonde brows wiggled, and his animated laughter continued as he made his way over to their child while simultaneously ignoring her heated scowl.

Lydia glowered at him even more then returned to her plate and stabbed the lemon tart several times before softly grumbling to herself. "Yeah, Yeah. Guck it up buddy."

Her devious mind carefully began to formulate all the wicked things that she could possibly do to her ghostly partner. The corner of her lips curled up and spread into a sinful smirk as a plan began to develop. Her dear hubby wanted to play the tease game, did he? Well, she'd show him how it's done. He thought he was good, but she…she was better.

Lydia took a large bite of her pastry and glanced at her husband with an amused resolved, before going back to her tart with a soft giggle. Oh yeah, tonight was going to be soooo much fun.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Holy shit! I did not plan to take this long to update, sadly things happened to delay me. It's been a shitty couple of weeks. Where to begin? Oh, my cat died from FIP (feline infectious peritonitis) then my dog got a UTI (She's all better now, which is good). I could not believe the bad luck, but wait. Not long after that I somehow jacked my back up to the point where I could not move or stand up without being in a lot of pain. It sucked majorly, and I hated every moment of it. :( Since I was in a great deal of pain, I wasn't in the mood to do much of anything other than Icing the shit out of my back and hope that I would eventually get better. I have vastly improved, but I'm still not back to my old self. I'm also hoping shit starts to turn around from here on out. Now enough of my whining and thanks for putting up it.
> 
> Okay as for the newest chapter, I've spent the weekend and this week working on it and finally finished it. I like this chapter and am thoroughly happy with the way it came out. I think I liked Lydia's interaction with the detectives the best, though Lydia and Betelgeuse hearing the baby's heartbeat was right up there.
> 
> What do you all think? Did you like it? Let me know by dropping a review.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything associated with the Beetlejuice franchise, nor do I make any money from this. The only thing I own is Lucy and Irene and I'm okay with that. The rest I just borrow for my own twisted amusement.
> 
> A quick AN: When a character in a pink glittery ball gown and wings comes into play think Carol Kane as the Ghost of Christmas Present from the movie Scrooged. If you have no clue what that movie is, well that means I'm old as hell and you'll just have to google that shit.
> 
> – (Ghost of Christmas Present): Sometimes the truth is painful, Frank. [Slaps his face] But it's made your cheeks rosy and your eyes bright! (Frank Cross): If you TOUCH ME AGAIN, I'll rip your goddamn wings off! Okay? – Scrooged –

The month appeared to speed by for the couple as September progressed into October. Even with the shift to her favorite month, the young mother couldn't ease the nerves that were bundled up deep within. They seemed to claw at her insides and caused the endless worry to spread. Lydia knew it was from the visit with the detectives' weeks ago. Their impromptu social call had thrown the pregnant woman off balance. Her husband had tried to alleviate her apprehension, but she couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding that began to weigh down upon her. Maybe it was her hormones messing with her frazzled nerves? Or maybe Lydia just expected trouble simply because Luke was involved indirectly? She wasn't sure and carefully kept her mounting worry to herself as to not burden Betelgeuse with more of her antics.

As it was, her ghostly partner was already dealing with her sporadic mood swings. Christ, she felt like a yo-yo; Hellishly bopping up and down at any time of the day. Though, Lydia had to admit he was taking the emotional outbursts a lot better than she was. It was completely unexpected, but it really shouldn't have surprised her. The poltergeist tended to do things that just seemed to be out of character from the rough and chilling image he enjoyed portraying to the outside world. Plus, there were facets of the dead man that he liked to show only to his little family.

A smile sprang to life as Lydia thought on all the sweet things he had done lately. First with the beautiful necklace then running to wherever to get the various foods her pregnant ass craved. Later in the month when it was time for her birthday, he had surprised her with a party at her folks' and a night out at an art show. It had been their first real date as a couple. She knew that working with her family and the art show wasn't his thing, but he had made sure that everything about that night had been perfect. It had been that and so much more. A birthday that she would never forget.

Lydia smoothed her hands over the curve of her lower abdomen and turned in the mirror to get a view of her profile. A rush of happiness overcame her as she caressed the bump lovingly and smiled even larger than before. It truly was a beautiful sight. Her body had already begun to change with her breasts becoming fuller and her lower abdomen swelling to accommodate the growing babe. The said bump was out in full view because of the tight black high waisted skirt and a short sleeved red silk blouse that she decided to wear for the evening festivities. Lydia twisted to her other side and ran her hand over her belly again, before facing the mirror head on. She adjusted the beetle necklace resting between her breasts then reached up to twirl some loose hair around her fingers that didn't get placed in the red hair net.

A whistle sounded in the room and caused the distracted woman to jump with her hand over her thudding heart. She whipped around and spied her husband leaning against the door frame with their daughter on his hip. His green eyes trailed down her body, before returning to her face with a toothy grin. He catcalled again while his smoky tone washed over her. "You've always looked good in red, but mixed with the black, Sweets. It makes you damn right edible!" He licked his lips wolfishly and waggled his brows at his delectable wife. "Mmmm…You know how I like to eat…"

Oh yes, she knew very well. Her cheeks flushed with color while she bit her bottom lip and the room seemed to heat up a bit. Lydia squirmed in her spot and trailed her own gaze down the cocky poltergeist's well-built form. Her mouth dropped slightly at the sight, and it suddenly felt like it was filled with a bunch of sand. They had decided to keep their costumes a secret until this very night, so seeing her husband in something that wasn't his usual attire was a little weird and surprising at the same time. 'Well shit…' The stunned woman thought as she continued to eye the sexy dead man. Instead of her husband's chunky black and white suit, he was now dressed in a well fitted black one with thin white vertical pinstripes and a white button up accompanied with a red satin tie. On top of his blonde head was a black fedora cocked to the side. The specter looked unbelievably hot in his Halloween getup and Lydia had to struggle to find her words through her parched mouth. "Wow…"

Her lack of response only flared the already enlarged ego of his and had him grinning even wider with a hand outstretched widely to emphasize his form. "Like what ya see, Babe?"

That smug smirk was what snapped her out of the stupor and a flirty one of her own slid on her features as she batted her lashes at him. "Actually, I do."

"Then please keep lookin' Sweets." His head tilted back, and an animated laugh sprung from him before returning his gaze to her with a wink.

Their tiny child squealed sharply and drew her parent's attention while she voiced her opinion in baby babble. The only thing that the couple could understand was the words daadaa and mummum.

Lydia bent to Lucy's level cupping her hands together and gushed happily. "Oh Lulu, look at you!" She scanned the little girl from head to toe and cooed some more. "Daddy dressed you real pretty, didn't he? You look so beautiful in that red dress and feathered headband." The faux pearl necklace hung from her tiny neck and at the end was a teething ring that was held tightly in her chubby hand. Lucy giggled at her mother's attention as she waved the ring in the air and continued to babble.

Betelgeuse cleared his throat and aimed a question in her direction. "You ready to go yet?"

Lydia straightened and shook her dark head before making her way to the open closet. Reaching down, she picked up her cute red flats and slid them on, while talking. "Yes, just let me put these on and then I have to grab my stole." The pregnant woman glanced at her flats and sighed deeply. She really wished that she could wear her red stilettoes. They would have went smashing with her outfit. Another sigh left her while she turned back to her husband and stuck out her foot to model her flats. Lydia bit her lip then released it to ask Betelgeuse for his opinion. "Do the shoes look okay? I would wear my heels, but I don't think I would make it that far walking around the neighborhood."

His green gaze moved to her feet and shrugged lightly. "They look just fine Babe, though I wouldn't have minded seeing ya in a pair. Maybe you can wear them for me tonight?" The poltergeist returned to her face and wiggled his brows as he shifted their child to his other hip.

Lydia ran the tips of her fingers over his clothed chest and winked saucily while making her way passed him. "Hun, I believe that can be arranged…"

He groaned loudly and watched her hips sway back and forth as he followed her down the hallway to the coat closet. "Fuck, you're killin' me here Sweetheart."

Her lips twitched in amusement at his comment but stayed silent. She opened the door to grab the black faux fur stole from the hanger and wrapped it around her shoulders before going back in to retrieve the other coats. Lydia handed her husband his dark trench coat along with their daughter's white faux fur jacket and broke her silence with a large smile. "You're already dead my dear husband."

The dead man chuckled and slipped the coat on the child then passed her to her mother, so he could throw on his own. Adjusting his dark trench coat, Betelgeuse turned back to his wife to relieve her of their daughter and brazenly spoke with a jiggle of his light brows. "Well shit sweets, you wanna little death?"

Lydia giggled while she seized the pumpkin bucket that he had juiced a few hours before and continued to flirt with him. "Baby, what I experience isn't little by any means."

His eyes trailed down her body and licked his lips once again. "With the way you soak the sheets, No, I guess it's not."

Her face flushed with color and the same heat from before came flooding back. She forced herself not to fan her flushed cheeks and cleared her throat then tried to change the subject. "You do remember that this is a neighborhood block party for the cul-de-sac, so you need to keep the language pg or at least pg 13. Unlike you, some parents try to curb their mouths."

His face contorted into outrage and let his pregnant wife know his horror. "What?! I have to censor myself? You never said shit about that! I'm an adult I can swear and it's one of my little pleasures!"

Lydia sighed and made her way to the front door. "I didn't mention it, because I knew you would say no." She pulled it open and twisted back to face her husband with a pleading look. "Please behave. This is Lulu's first Halloween."

Betelgeuse scoffed loudly as he by passed her and held the screen while she shut the entry behind them. "Women, I know that it is and I ain't gonna ruin it for her." His gaze shifted from his wife to their babbling child and coo at her. "Right Bug. Daddy wouldn't do that to you. No, he wouldn't." He tickled her belly and earned a bunch of giggles then barked out a laugh of his own.

Lydia's lips twitched at the happy sounds of her husband and child and the slight tension began to lessen some. Her lips curled even more as she turned to see Betelgeuse making goofy faces at Lucy, who in return was trying to copy her father. Clearing her throat drew her husband's attention, and a cheesy grin was sent her way. She rolled her eyes and told him that she was ready go. "Okay, I'm ready. Do you have the diaper bag?"

The poltergeist stared down at her with a raised brow and a shrug his broad shoulders. "Um…No…"

Ugh. They forgot the diaper bag. Shit. A frustrated puff of air escaped her tiny frame then a low groan followed. She stepped away from her husband and turned towards the door. "Crap. I'll go grab it." His free hand shot out and wrapped around her wrist as he spoke. "Naw Babe, I got this." She was about to question him when he snapped his finger and produced the full diaper bag. His green eyes twinkled brightly and winked cheekily at her. "We got it now."

The young mother tried to smother the smile that wanted to come through at her husband's antics. Now wasn't the time for humor. Seriously did he just use his powers out in plain sight? What if someone had seen him? What if those detectives were watching? Sometimes her hubby was too impulsive. She sighed deeply and placed her hands on her hips. "Betelgeuse, you just can't use your juice when we're in front of our house. What if the neighbors had seen? Or those damn detectives? You can't take risks like that. Please tell me that you will not use your powers at the party?" Ugh, she sounded like the naggy wife. Something that she promised she would never be. God forbid that she'd end up like Delia. Lydia shuttered at the thought and watched as her husband snorted with a shake of his head and descended the steps.

Betelgeuse paused at the bottom and addressed her while she carefully followed behind him. "Babe, I've been around a long fuckin' time and know the rules better than anyone else. Hell, I break most of them. I know not to expose breathers to my juice. I ain't gonna put my family at risk just for some kicks." He reached for her hand and wove his fingers with hers before bringing them up to kiss her knuckles. "Relax Sweets. No one saw shit; Neither the neighbors or those fuckin' investigators. Not that they would be back and spying on us on Halloween of all days. You're startin' to sound as paranoid as me, Babe. Didn't I tell ya not to worry about them? If they return, I'll deal with it. I told ya I gotta backup plan. Shit's gonna be fine Sweetheart."

Lydia released another sigh and tried to shake the nerves that were once again bubbling forth. "I know it is. I'm just being a nervous nelly that's all. These damn hormones are really messing with me."

His gaze softened as he freed a deep breath of his own and pulled her close to kiss her temple. "I realize that Sweets, but I'd never do anything to jeopardize what we have, nor would I let anyone else. Ya got that?"

She leaned in and rested her cheek on his chest before nodding. "Yeah, I got it."

"Good." Betelgeuse bent down to kiss her crown and gave her a tiny squeeze then released his hold. He stepped away and sent her a warm smile while holding out an arm for her to grab. "Now come on Dame. Let's blow this joint. We have some houses to hit up." His smile widened and waited for her to follow his lead.

Lydia laughed loudly then wove her arm through his and swept her other arm out in front of them. "Well then Fella, lead the way and show this gal a good time."

"Any time Babe." The poltergeist winked and chuckled in amusement as they began to walk down the sidewalk.

Slowly the couple approached the first house and climbed the steps to ring the doorbell. They took a step back, so that whoever answered had enough room to open the screen door to greet them. Lydia brought the bucket up so Lucy could grab onto the handle to hold it out when an older woman dressed in a cat costume with a large bowl of candy tucked against her side answered.

Lydia smiled and greeted her with the traditional Halloween saying. "Trick or Treat, Mrs. Goldburg!" Lucy began to babble something loudly while shaking the bucket at the older woman.

Mrs. Goldburg beamed brightly and returned the greeting. "Happy Halloween. Don't you three just look so cute?! I love the matching costumes. Mr. Goldburg and I used to do the same thing when our kids were little. Are you going to the block party?"

With a quick nod, Lydia confirmed that they were eventually heading that way. "Yes, we are." She wondered if the older couple would be going as well and asked the woman. "Are you and Mr. Goldburg going?"

Mrs. Goldburg's smile dimmed slightly as she shook her head and placed some candy in Lucy's bucket. "No. Mr. Goldburg isn't feeling well, so we are staying home. Our kids and the grandkiddos will be stopping by shortly and I think that they might go."

That sucked that they wouldn't be there tonight. Mr. and Mrs. Goldburg were one of the very few neighbors that she knew quite well. Mrs. Goldburg has been known to pop over from time to time to drop off some apples or preserves from her various apple trees. The woman was so sweet and greatly missed the hustle and bustle that came with having a house full of children. Mr. Goldburg, well, he was wacky and at times irritable grandfather type. When she thought of him, Walter Matthau as Max Goldman always came to her mind. Lydia hoped that his cold wasn't too bad and that he improved in a couple of days. "Aww, that's too bad. Please tell Mr. Goldburg that I hope he feels better."

The sound of children could be heard as the made their way up the path marking that it was time to cut the chit chat short. Mrs. Goldburg eyed the new group then turned her focus back to the couple. "I will my dear. You three have fun."

"We will. Bye." Lydia waved as some kids ran passed them and up to the door drawing the older woman's attention.

They weaved through the rest of the group and made their way to the next house. Betelgeuse lightly bumped hips with his wife and snorted. "One house down now a billion more to go."

A snicker shook her tiny frame as she rolled her eyes and bumped him back. "It's not that many houses. Most look like they have the bowls of candy sitting on the stoop. It shouldn't take us that long."

She had been wrong and underestimated how big their cul-de-sac truly was. When driving in a car it doesn't seem that long, but apparently walking was a different story. It took some time to make it to the neighborhood event, since their house was in the middle of the dead end and to hit every residence they had to zig-zag from place to place until they reached the party.

When the couple arrived at the event, they found the road blocked by a huge tent. It was a festive shade of orange and stretched width wise from one side of the road to the other and at least three lots long. There were also several small games going on outside with some kids bouncing from here or there and their parents trailing quickly behind.

The trio made their way to the tent entrance and was greeted by a tall curly headed blonde woman dressed in a glittery pink ballgown with large iridescent wings. She bounced on the balls of her feet, making the shimmering extensions look as if they were real and moving on their own. The bubbly blonde revealed a big toothy smile when she recognized Lydia and readied some papers in her hands. "Lydia! Like I'm glad that you could make it. This must be like your husband."

Lydia returned the gesture to stop the cringe that wanted to come through at the sound of the woman's outdated speech. Do people even talk like that anymore? She wasn't sure but couldn't fault the woman. Even though the blonde did come off as a little snobby at times and had the stereotypical valley girl speech pattern, honestly, she wasn't that bad. It just took a while to get used to her and maybe a smidgen of patience. Nothing Lydia couldn't handle. Her husband was a testament to that. The pregnant women stifled the giggle that wanted to spill and gave her husband's arm a light squeeze then waved with her free hand. "Hi Clare, and yes, this is my husband, Benjamin."

Betelgeuse tipped his hat and flashed her a friendly grin. "Nice to meet you ma'am." Lydia could tell that he wanted to say more but must have realized that his smartass comments would not have been welcome. She could just imagine the things that were sitting on the edge of her husband's tongue. Oh, how this must be killing him right now?

Lydia coughed a little to hide the snort, but Clare never noticed it, nor the underlining containment in the dead man. The perky woman greeted him with an enormous amount of enthusiasm. "It's like nice to meet you as well." She bounced some more making the wings move with greater momentum and seem like they were trying to lift the thin female up and away from the whole event. Clare produced another toothy grin then passed them a sheet of paper from the pile she was holding. "The party is in full swing and like here is an itinerary of what kind of activities and booths that we have. I am so glad you guys could come and like have fun!"

The couple both nodded at the sunny blond as they made their way into the large tent. The poltergeist leaned down to whisper in his wife's ear. "I feel like throwing up now. Did she have to be like so goddamn cheery and what the fuck is up with the valley talk?"

She lightly slapped his arm and tried to keep her own voice down. "B, language and she's actually a really nice person."

A large snort left him, while he guided them to a place to sit and continued to talk in her ear. "Yeah, Yeah. No swearing. A nice person or not, Babe. Miss San Fernando Valley doesn't seem to be your type?"

Lydia moved closer to her husband to sidestep a little kid that came barreling passed and answered his question with one of her own. "Miss San Fernando Valley?"

The poltergeist wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and led them in the direction of the tables. "Yeah that's where that type of speech originated from and it seemed fitting."

Her brow rose with the fact her husband had just thrown that out of thin air. "How do you know that?" 'How the hell does he know all of these things?' She thought to herself as he replied back. "Like I've said, I've been around a long time. Plus, I took a test once when I was bored and scored a 250."

A test? What kind of test would you need a score of 250? "What kind of test did you take?"

"Some IQ thing that this guy was doin' in the Netherworld. He nearly wet himself when he saw my score and began squawkin' about me bein' unmeasurable or some shit. When he started to lose it, I got the hell out of there."

The test he had taken was an IQ test and he scored a 250. Wasn't that something like an unmeasurable genius? No wonder the other dead guy had been freaking out. That's a big deal and made everything about the poltergeist a little clearer. "You scored a 250 on an IQ test? That explains a lot and remember language, B."

He gave her a sour expression and released an exasperated breath. "Ugh. This shit sucks!" Betelgeuse sneered some more before going back to his missed question. "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. Now I answered your question. You gonna answer mine?"

Lydia rolled her eyes as he blatantly swore once again. Some habits will never cease, especially with this man. She didn't bother to remind him this time and answered his inquiry. "I know Clare isn't someone that I usually associate with, though I really don't associate with anyone these days. She's not that bad. I can deal with the cheeriness from time to time. Plus, we rarely run into each other with her living near the entrance of the Cul-de-sac anyway."

They found a vacant table in the corner and set down their belongings in one of the empty chairs. Betelgeuse pulled a seat for his pregnant wife, before turning to her. "Babe, why don't you sit for a little bit? I'm sure your feet are hurting ya. I'll go get us something to drink then we can see what all the hoopla is about."

Hoopla? Lydia snorted at his choice of words but did as he asked and sat carefully in the chair. Her feet were aching a little, so resting a tiny bit wouldn't hurt. Her husband pushed in the chair slightly then stepped to the side while she reached out to take Lucy from him. "Here I'll take her."

He waved her away with a shake of his head and directed his attention to their daughter. "Naw, we're good. Right Bug?" Lucy shook her head along with his own and babbled some before gumming her teething ring. He chuckled and returned his focus to his wife. "Relax, Sweets. We will be right back."

She slipped her feet out of her flats and wiggled her toes as she requested a drink. "B, something with lemon please."

The poltergeist rolled his eyes and slowly began to walk away. "Yeah, yeah. I know the drill woman."

Lydia watched her husband disappear through the crowd then swept her gaze over the sheer number of people that came to this event. Everyone was dressed in various costumes with some running around playing the various activities, while others either conversed or danced amongst one another. She couldn't believe that all these folks lived in the cul-de-sac. Not that she knew all of her neighbors, nor has she gone to this event since moving into her place. Having fun had been the least of her worries at the time. Christ, she had been a step away from being the cat lady minus the damn cats.

The sound of her name drew her from her thoughts and had her head whipping in the opposite direction. A man dressed as a prince with what appeared to be a grey smock was waving at her while he waded through the crowd. "Lydia? Lydia Deetz?"

This guy looked vaguely familiar, and it wasn't until he was closer that she could read his smock. In black lettering it spelled out, Invincible Catering. Instantly she knew who this was and couldn't believe in all these years that she was running into him. "Vinny?" Her eyes widened and yelled out his name in shocking surprise. Vince was an ex. Her first to be exact. Hell, her first everything. They met when they were both First Years in college, but their relationship only lasted until the end of Third year. They both had wanted different things, so they had decided to go separate ways. Lydia had thought that their last conversation would be just that.

The astonished mother observed the costumed man making his way closer and noticed that his happy features doubled when he realized that she clearly recognized him. He stopped a few paces in front of her and scratched the back of his dark head. "Yeah, it's me."

Lydia slipped her feet back in her flats and slid her chair backwards, so she could quickly stand up. She stepped away from the table and returned the smile. "It's good to see you, Vince."

His chocolate colored eyes took in her appearance and warmed considerably as his grin widened. "It's good to see you too, Lyds. You look great! How have you been?"

The scrutiny her ex was throwing her way was beginning to make her feel slightly uncomfortable but laughed it off as jitters from running into a past partner. "You don't look too bad yourself. I've been good. I'm married now, and we have a daughter. So, it's no longer Deetz, but Geist." She outstretched her left hand and wiggled her fingers to display her ring.

Vince glanced at the band in disbelief and swallowed roughly, while he dragged his fingers through his hair. "Wow…married and a kid…"

She brought her hand back to her side and popped the p as she spoke. "Yep."

His attention made its way back to her and a weak smile appeared on his face. "Well, that is what you wanted after all. It was one of the reasons why we went our separate ways."

Yes, it was. She had wanted to have a family one day and Vince, well, he had said that he wasn't even sure if he even wanted any at all. It had been the day that Lydia had realized that even though they loved each other it just wasn't enough. They were two different people beginning to travel down separate paths. "Yeah, we both wanted different things."

Vince ran his hand through his dark locks once again and shifted from one foot to another as he sighed heavily. "We sure did, though things change the older we get. We may not have wanted something when we were younger, but now that we are older it looks pretty damn good." A bittersweet smile formed on his features while he reached out to softly stroke her cheek. "You really do look stunning, Lyds."

The action made the uncomfortable feeling return and she sent him a weak smile. "Thanks, Vinny." Before she could pull away from the uneasy act her husband's gruff tone cut through the underlining tension. "Babes…Who's…this?" He clearly ground his teeth together and somehow contained the swear words that would have normally come out of his mouth.

Lydia whipped her head towards the sound of his voice and quickly stepped away from her ex. Her eyes widened, and her own voice pitched sharply as she called out to him. "Benjamin!" She spied the tick in his jaw flying a mile a minute and realized that her husband was extremely pissed off. An angry Betelgeuse was a dangerous Betelgeuse. She had to defuse the situation before he did something hasty. "B, this is Vince."

The nervous mother avoided eye contact with the other man and introduced the poltergeist. "Vinny, this is my husband Benjamin."

Lydia eyed both men and watched as her ex sized up her husband then tilted his chin at him. "Nice to meet you, man."

Betelgeuse did the same while his jaws ticked even faster. "Uhmm, You too." Looking between Lydia and the unknown man, the poltergeist didn't pussy foot around as he questioned them. "So, how do ya know each other?"

Vince opened his big mouth before Lydia could respond. "Lyds and I used to date in college."

The dead man seemed even more irritated by the other man's explanation. "Really? Hmm. That's interesting." He sent a raised brow and a sharp look in Lydia's direction but said nothing to her.

Uh oh. That couldn't possibly be good. Not that she understood why he was so upset. It wasn't like he has ever talked about his past relationships and who she dated has no effect on their relationship anyway. Well except for now that is. How was she supposed to know that they'd run into an ex of hers especially here of all places? If she hadn't known about the Netherworld, she would have sworn the gods were messing with her.

Her ex grinned cheekily at her husband then flashed it in her direction with a wink. "Yeah, we had a lot of firsts, now didn't we Lyds?"

Oh my god. Was he asking for a death wish? Her husband was going to slaughter the man if he didn't shut the hell up. She awkwardly smiled and rubbed the back of her tense neck. "Yeah, we sure did..." Christ, this was fucking uncomfortable. Lydia tried to change the subject by introducing their daughter. She pointed to Lucy as she spoke. "Um…this is our daughter Lucy."

Vince glanced at the little girl then turned back to her mother. "Wow, she looks just like you, Lyds. The only difference is the blonde hair and the hazel eyes."

Lydia laughed nervously and brushed Lucy's bangs off her forehead. "I know I hear that all the time."

He laughed along with her and continued on as if her husband hadn't come along and interrupted them. "I bet. How old is she?"

Taken a little back, she was surprised at his sudden interest in Lucy. Vince had never been one to be interested in kids. Like she said before, it was one of the reason they had broken up. Lydia hesitantly answered his question. "Bug…She is 10 months old."

Vince scratched his head with his brows crinkled in confusion. "Bug?"

Another laugh busted from the pregnant woman and shook her head before tilting it at her husband. "It's Benjamin's nickname for Lucy."

"Cute." His tone was laced with sarcasm and hinted that he didn't find it cute at all.

Lydia tried to hide the grimace that wanted to break through as she watched Betelgeuse twitch at the remark. She really hoped that Vince would zip his lips, because she wasn't sure how much more her husband would take before he snapped.

The other man's gaze traveled down her body once again and the uncomfortable feeling from before returned causing her to move closer to her husband. "I have to say Lyds, you look good for just having a kid 10 months ago."

Betelgeuse switched Lucy to his other arm and wove the free one around her waist. He pulled her carefully to his side and puffed out his chest with a boastful grin as he retorted. "That she does, especially with her carrying our second child."

Surprise flooded the living male and his mouth dropped open. His attention moved from the dead man to the woman in his arms. "You're expecting another?"

Lydia went to rest her hand underneath her husband's limb and smiled happily. "Yes, I'm 3 months along."

"Wow…" Vince's features damped, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he struggled to swallow. "I…I knew you wanted kids, but I didn't think you'd have them so close together."

She went to respond but her husband beat her to it once again. He pulled her even closer and winked before turning back to the man with a smug expression. "Man, what can I say? I just can't seem to keep my hands off MY wife, especially when she looks like this."

The other man seemed to grind his teeth together as his gaze bounced between the couple. "Benjamin you're a lucky man."

Betelgeuse's chest expanded even more and shook his pale head in agreement. "That I am. "

A woman in a witch costume yelled as she made her way passed them causing Vince to turn away from the couple. "Vince! I need your help with the appetizers."

Lydia's eyes closed and thanked her lucky stars that the uncomfortable situation would be over soon. If she could run and kiss that witchy woman she would. She opened her eyes and spied the distracted man twist back to them with a sigh.

"Looks like I got to go." He grabbed a napkin off the table and pulled a pen out of his pocket. He quickly jotted something down on it and handed it to Lydia while flashing her another warm smile. "Here's my number. We should get together for old times sakes. That is if your husband doesn't mind?" The man eyed Betelgeuse with a silent challenge before trailing back to Lydia.

The poltergeist shrugged his shoulders as he tried to play it cool. "Why should I? I got nothin' to worry about. It's just two acquaintances gettin' together to shoot the shit."

Vince laughed and pointed out that him and Lydia had been more than just that. "I believe we were more than just acquaintances. We did date for three years after all."

Lydia tried not to wince when she heard Betelgeuse growl under his breath and noticed that the tick in his jaw moved even faster. He opened his mouth to retort but the woman from before came out of nowhere yelling for Vince once again. "Vince! Help!"

A hand ran through his dark mane and he sent Lydia an apologetic smile. "Sorry I really have to go, Lyds. Make sure to call me, Okay?"

The nervous mother tried to carefully watch her words so not to enflame the already heated situation. "Y…Yeah. It was nice to see you Vinny." Of course, she wouldn't call him. That would be inappropriate and just as uncomfortable as this whole conversation had been. Hell, she was just trying to be polite. Damn her parents for instilling good manners.

Her exes face brightened at her response which had not been what she had wanted. "You too Lyds. Hopefully I will hear from you soon. Bye." He sent her another smile before hurrying to the witch waiting for him.

She waved weakly at his withdrawing form and raised her free hand to rub her face. Shit. She was exhausted, and they hadn't even done anything yet.

Next to her, Betelgeuse blew out a ragged breath and quickly removed his arm from her waist. He said nothing as he stepped away and marched to the table to sit down.

The tired woman pinched the bridge of her nose and puffed out cheeks in frustration then slowly followed suit. She spied the forgotten drink on the table and reached out to draw it to her. This was not how she expected the night to progress. It's Halloween and right now they should be having fun not sitting here angry and pretending that everything was fine when it was the opposite of the truth. Neither said anything for some time before Lucy began to fuss quite loudly.

Lydia observed her husband lightly bouncing their daughter to try and soothe her some, but nothing seemed to work. Lucy was mostly likely tired. It was way past her bedtime, so it was a miracle that she lasted this long. The small child's fussing continued, and Lydia realized that her husband's attempts to soothe her would be for nothing. It was time for them to go home and put their cranky child to bed. There was any point of staying anyway. Neither one of them was having fun. Finally, she got up the courage to be the first one to speak. She cleared her throat and rubbed around the rim of the glass. "B, why don't we just head home? I'm feeling kind of tired, and it's past Lucy's bedtime anyway."

He shrugged his shoulders and stood up from the table. He didn't even look at her as his cool tone cut over the noisy crowd. "Sure."

She tipped back her drink and didn't bother to say anything else as she set it roughly down on the table then stood up to grab their stuff.

They left the tent in silence and managed to make it home rather quickly. Lucy had fallen asleep on the walk back, so Betelgeuse had juiced her into pajamas and tucked her into bed. The couple both kissed her goodnight before making their way to their own room.

The frustrated woman kicked off her flats and broke the stillness permeating the space. "Why are you so mad?" She couldn't stand the damn silence any longer and needed to understand why he was so pissed at her. She didn't do anything wrong, so why was he this angry?

He kicked off his own shoes while he refused to look in her direction and tightly answered her. "Who said I was mad, Sweets?" The tick moved a mile per minute as he slowly began to remove his button down.

Lydia scoffed forcefully and sat at her vanity to take down her hair and remove her make up. She tossed the items she had been holding onto the vanity then watched her husband through the mirror as she began to remove a few pins. "I've been around you enough to know when you're pissed off."

He finally looked up and sneered at her. "What just because we've been around each a lot, you think you know me?"

Her teeth clenched tightly together, and her brow furrowed as she tried not to get herself worked up because of his dicky attitude. "I'll admit that I don't know everything about you, but I do know some things and one of those things is when something is bugging you." Yeah, the fucking ticking in the jaw was a big indicator. Like one of his neon signs flashing brightly. Not that she would tell him that. Some things would be just for her to know.

The poltergeist removed his button up and threw it on top of the laundry basket. "Why would I need to be mad?"

Lydia stopped pulling out the bobby pins and twisted round on her stool to face him. "You tell me?"

He didn't answer her question as he tipped his head in the direction of her vanity. "You got a reason for keepin' that?"

She turned to see what he was talking about and realized that he was focusing on the things she had thrown on top of the vanity surface. The numbered napkin was amongst the items and was clearly what the dead man was talking about. Shit, she had forgotten all about it until now. For a man that claimed to know just about everything, didn't he understand that she wasn't interested in anyone but him? So of course, Lydia wasn't going to keep it. She hadn't planned on it and if the young mother had been thinking straight when they left the tent, she would have thrown it in the trash there. "No, I wasn't planning on keeping it. I'm going to throw it away as soon as I'm finished."

"Hmph…" The poltergeist made a sound as if he didn't believe her and pulled the undershirt over his head.

Her dark gaze shifted to a glare and couldn't stop the urge to snap at the dead man. "What the hell's that sound for?"

Betelgeuse crossed his arms over his bare chest and returned her glare with a heated one of his own. "I wasn't sure if you'd toss it or not. You looked quite chummy when he was touchin' and flirtin' with ya. The fuckin' cocksucker had the balls to do it right in fuckin' front of me!"

Lydia quickly stood up knocking over the stool while she threw her hands up in the air. "Betelgeuse, you're acting like I was flirting with the man."

His arms fell to his sides and tightly fisted his hands as he snarled. "What the fuck do you call it? I come back to find some asshole touchin' my wife and she ain't pushing him away. You just fluttered those big eyes of yours and smiled like a fool!"

To hell with that. She had not been flirting with anyone, especially her ex. Christ, he had made her feel very uncomfortable the whole damn time. You do not flirt with someone that makes you feel uneasy. The sharp glare remained, and she stomped her foot several times in frustration. "Goddamn it, I was not flirting with Vince!"

Fingers ran roughly through his shaggy mane and a loud snarl ripped from him. "That's not how it looked, Sweetheart. The douche was practically fuckin' ya with his eyes!"

Lydia tried to keep her temper in check but couldn't stop the frustration that bubbled over. "He was not!"

The poltergeist's green eyes flashed brightly, and his features contorted angrily. "Fuck if he wasn't! I'd fuckin' recognize that stare anywhere. He wanted between those sweet little thighs of yours and would have tried if I hadn't come back."

The pregnant woman didn't care if her ex had been flirting with her or not. She wasn't interested in another man other than her husband. Plus, what her and Vince had together had been years ago. Even if Vince still felt the same way, she no longer did. Her heart belonged to her husband now. "Even if that so, I'm a married woman and not interested. That ship already sailed a long time ago."

The dead man scoffed some more then rotated his neck from side to side and cracked it loudly. "Yeah well, tell Romeo that, cuz he could care less if you're takin' or not. He fuckin' still wants ya!"

Wasn't he listening to her? Why couldn't he believe it when she said that she wasn't interested? That should be the thing that counts, right? Her hands went to rest on her hips and her tone held an edge to it. "As I told you before, I'm not interested in him! Why are you getting so worked up about this? YOU are my husband and why would I want someone else? Christ Betelgeuse, you never acted like this about Luke. Why Vince?!"

Betelgeuse snarled and ran his hand through his blonde strands again. "That's cuz the fuckin' douchebag is breathing, while the little piss ant is dead, dead, deadski!" He pulled at the hairs and continued with his omission. "The breather fuckin' wants you like I do. It was in his bloody eyes. I don't fuckin' know what I'd do if I lost you, Babe. If someone took you from me, I…." Her eyes widened at his confession and the clear frustration boiling underneath the surface. He halted his words when he saw her surprised expression and released a loud growl before swinging around to hit the wall in aggravation. "Shit!"

Lydia jumped at the unexpected action and let out a small startled squeak. Her husband stiffened at the sound and shoved his other hand roughly through his hair then blinked out of sight.

The pregnant woman stared at the empty space wondering why her husband had just up and left. Her brows furrowed, and she buried her face in her hands for a few seconds. Why did he leave? Did he think that he had frightened her? She hadn't been scared in the least and knew that he would never harm her. He had just stunned her for a moment, since she was not expecting her normally calm husband to be perturbed enough to hit something.

A sheen of tears flooded her vision, and she had to take several breaths to try to force down the overwhelming urge. 'Goddamn hormones!' Lydia thought as she closed her eyes and continued to take in calming breaths. Crying wouldn't solve a thing and definitely wouldn't bring back her husband. He would return after he cooled his rising temper, though Lydia wasn't sure how long that would be. All she could do right now was finish what she had been doing. Eventually the dead man would be home, and they could figure out what the hell had just happened.

The young mother just stood in the spot for a few more minutes before opening her eyes and making her way back to the vanity. She bent over to pick up the fallen stool then sat down to continue to extract the bobby pins from her hair. When her raven locks were free of the hair pins, Lydia pulled the net from the base of her neck and tossed it onto the table. She grabbed a brush, quickly running it through her long tresses and placed it up in a loose bun. After that, she proceeded to remove her makeup with a makeup wipe then made her way to the dresser to grab her favorite comfy pajamas. Slowly stripping out of her costume, Lydia tossed the articles on top of the dirty clothes basket before pulling on her oversized pajama shirt.

On her to the doorway, she seized the marked napkin from the vanity and crushed it in her palm. "Stupid exes." Lydia grumbled to herself while she glanced at her now untidy table and made her way out of the room. Damn, the table was an utter mess. Shit, she'd have to come back and clean it up, but right now was not the time. After she got rid of the unneeded number, the freezer would be her next destination. There was a wonderful tub of lemon sherbet calling her name. The last stop would be the family room where she would plop her tired butt down and watch a few horror movies on the boobtube. Yes, that was exactly what she needed at the moment. Some good ole murder and mayhem.

A few hours later, the sound of footsteps jostled the sleeping woman awake and caused her to groggily sit up on the couch. Her hands rubbed her sleep crusted eyes before looking in the direction of the noise. Her tired peepers widened as her chocolate gaze met the bottle green pools of her husbands. He slowly approached her exhausted form and dropped onto his knees in front of the couch.

The poltergeist's pale hand went out to reach for her but stalled as if he decided that maybe it wasn't such a good idea. Instead he jerked it back to his side and silently waited for his quiet wife to make the first move.

A large amount of relief washed over the tiny woman at the sight of her ghostly spouse and couldn't help the tears that flooded her vision. Christ, she missed him. The salty liquid spilled down cheeks as she launched herself at the dead man and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.

Betelgeuse let out his own sigh of relief at the sudden contact and encaged her tiny body with his embrace. He closed his eyes and buried his face in her hair taking in her sweet scent.

She twisted her face so that her cheek rested on his shoulder and whispered softly into his ear. "I missed you…"

His hold on her tightened and spoke amongst her dark locks. "'Ah fuck Sweets, I missed ya too." Betelgeuse pulled back, so he could see her face and groaned when he saw the tears. "Shit Baby, don't cry." His fingers gently wiped the salty trails away then leaned down to kiss her softly on the lips. "I'm sorry I left the way I did Sweetheart, but I needed to separate myself from the situation and to cool down."

Lydia sniffled a little while she talked. "I figured that was what you were doing…" Well she had hoped that was what he had been doing. If she would have thought differently it would have driven her mad with worry.

He wiped more tears from her face and continued with his words. "Babe, I didn't mean to freak out on ya and… I didn't mean to…scare ya…" Betelgeuse held his breath and some unknown emotion passed quickly over his features as he waited for her response.

Lydia realized that her husband had indeed thought that he had scared her or maybe even thought she was now scared of…him. "Oh, Hun, you didn't scare me. Sure, I was a little taken back, but that was because I've never seen you like that. I know that you would never hurt me!" Shit he wasn't Luke and she knew that. He'd never dream of hurting her and has told her that on many occasions. Hell, he treats her like a fucking queen. One that shits rainbows and multicolored glitter everywhere and doesn't care that she is a walking and squawking mood swing machine.

"I know Sweets, but I shouldn't have freaked like that. That's not how we flow." He blew out a large breath as he forged on. "Like I told ya before, you guys keep me grounded and in the right frame of mind. I'd lose my shit if I didn't have ya with me. Fuck, you saw what happened tonight and the dick wasn't even a fuckin' threat." A hand rubbed the back of his neck, and he released another lungful. "You mean so much to me Babe. More than anything in this world and the next."

Warm liquid pooled in her eyes again, and she reached out to grab his hand to try and soothe his troubled mind. "B…I'm not going anywhere. We're not going anywhere. You have nothing to worry about. The only man I want is you. No one can ever compare. You…You make me whole." Her other hand came up and grazed her fingertips over top of his cheek bone then cupped his jaw tenderly. He really didn't know the depths of her love for him, did he? They say actions speak louder than words, but maybe some things need to be spoken aloud. A tear escaped and slid down her face as she confessed the magnitude of her feelings. "I…I love you, Betelgeuse."

The apprehension seemed to melt away from the poltergeist's body, and a toothy grin broke out on the dead man's face. "Sweets…" Betelgeuse pulled her hand from his cheek and swiftly yanked her to him, so he could kiss her soundly on the lips. He ended the kiss to rest his forehead against hers and softly whispered in return. "I love you too. So fuckin' much."

Lydia beamed brightly and tipped her face up to connect their lips together once again. She threw her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. Their lips broke apart when her back hit the couch cushion and a giggle rippled between them.

Her husband towered above her and ran his fingers over her cheekbone just like she had done with him. He leaned in and quickly pecked her on the mouth then crack another large smirk. "So, Babes, what did I miss while I was gone?"

Lydia's face flushed with color as she eyed the empty tub on the coffee table and sent her husband a bashful smile. "I ate a whole tub of sherbet and watched those scary movies you promised to see with me."

Betelgeuse skimmed the empty carton on the table then to the random horror movie playing on the tv. His lips twitched even more, and he coughed to cover the chuckle, but didn't broach the subject. He peeped at the carton for a second time and coughed a few times before he leaned down to snatch the remote from the floor. "Hm…I did, didn't I? Well let's see what's on, Babes." The poltergeist hummed slightly while scrolling through the available movies.

Her brows rose at his poor attempt to hide his amusement but couldn't fault him for it. If he had eaten the whole tub of sherbet, then she would have laugh too. Well…maybe…She really did like her lemon sherbet, so she may have been a tiny bit upset that she hadn't gotten any. Oh, who was she kidding? She would have gone all pregnant hurricane on his ass. She bit back a giggle and watched her hubby scrolled through the movies.

Betelgeuse slowly moved through the horror section and pause on one that interested him. He removed his green eyes from the screen and cocked his head in the direction of the tv. "Have ya seen this one tonight?"

Lydia glanced at the television and notice that her husband had found the 1973 version of the Exorcist. No, she hadn't seen that one yet. She knew that the movie was one of his favorites and it hadn't felt right to see it without him. "Nope, I wanted to see that with you."

Another grin split his features as he pressed play and tossed the remote on the coffee table. "Good." Betelgeuse juiced himself into pajama bottoms then carefully positioned himself behind her on the couch. He gently pulled her closer as he snapped his fingers to bring forth a blanket while they settled in to watch the flick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Wow, that was a way longer chapter than the last time. I'm not sure how it happens. Oh well at least I finally finished it.
> 
> Did you notice the nod to some characters from the cartoon? They most likely won't appear again unless you all want to see them.
> 
> I have to say, that I am not taking it easy on our lovely couple, but the drama and stress is needed for how I want the story to progress. This will be the last of the drama for some time, though.
> 
> Okay folks, some of you have had questions, like how Betelgeuse is seen to the outside world or what he does for work? Well, the first is simple, Betelgeuse looks like a really pale guy that doesn't go out in the sun very much and that's what the outside world sees. Unless Betelgeuse wants them to see him. Also, he is no longer covered in moss and dirt. I've always seen his character as not having a whole lot to look forward to so what would be the point of taking care of himself. Now that he has Lydia and the kiddos, he does so he's happier and cleaner.
> 
> As for the second, I can't say. My lips are sealed for the time being. It will be revealed soon though, so don't fret.
> 
> If you have any more questions, feel free to pm me or leave a comment. I enjoy hearing all of your thoughts and opinions. Please keep it up!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own the Beetlejuice franchise. I simply like the borrow the characters from time to time.

Lydia slightly shifted the cake box on her lap as she wistfully watched the golden scenery fly by. Her little family unit was making their way to the parental abode for the monthly holiday visit. She would have preferred to stay home for their first Thanksgiving but knew that if they didn't go, the pregnant woman would be naturally hearing from her extremely vocal stepmother. That was not something Lydia wanted to deal with, especially with the way she has been feeling as of late. The distinct possibility of her blowing her top at her nosey and bossy stepparent was higher than ever. She didn't want to screw up the delicate relationship that started cautiously building between them. Hell, it was a slow go, but it was going better than it had in the past. No one could say she wasn't trying to understand one Delia Deetz.

Her attention moved from the passing landscape and her thoughts to her husband who spoke loudly over their babbling daughter in the backseat.

"Babes, ya sure we don't need any more food? What about a third pumpkin pie or another platter of that green bean crap?" Lightly teased the clever poltergeist as his bloodless lips twitched and his bold gaze flicked in her direction before turning back to the familiar road.

The young mother huffed loudly and rotated her expressive eyes at his cheeky humor. "Betelgeuse stop making fun. Believe me when I tell you that we will need the dishes I've made. My stepmother tends to get overzealous about holidays, and some of those things can be…unique."

Betelgeuse snorted as he continued guiding them toward their intended destination. "You mean fancy. Red looks like the type to try and be all hoity-toity, but we all know she's a fire breathing dragon."

The memorable image of Delia with fire shooting out of her nostrils came to the forefront of her mind causing her to snicker lightly. Well, he wasn't that far off. Lydia genuinely tried to ward off more snickers with locking her lips tightly together but failed spectacularly when they broke through her façade. "Be nice, B."

The poltergeist scoffed and ran an agitated hand through his platinum hair. "I am and have been nice to your folks and the Cleavers."

Lydia toss back her head and laughed gleefully then raised her inquisitive brows at him. "Really? The Cleavers?"

He shrugged his burly shoulders and cackled himself. "What?! If they were able to breed, that's what they would be; so wholesome and shit."

What was the deal with the old nuclear family show references? This was starting to sound like a lifelong grudge. What did those tv shows ever do to him? Or does Betelguese just secretly like them but is too manly to admit it? That did sound like her old man and something that he would typically do. After all he did have a rep to protect. She snickered quietly and poked lightly at his side. "I'm starting to think that you secretly like those shows. You know quite a bit about them. Care to share?"

Another snort sprang out of him, and he shot her a raised brow of his own. "Do I look like someone who watches that shit?"

Lydia instantly flashed her beloved husband a toothy grin and positively affirmed her thoughts with nod. "In secret, yes."

His pale fingers tighten on the steering wheel and he sneered while spitting out his gruff words. "I wouldn't be caught dead watchin' those shows!"

She could not help to point out the obvious nor could she promptly stop the mild sarcasm that rolled off her clever tongue. "Umm…Hun…You are dead…"

His blazing eyes turned to her and barked in outrage. "Oi, you know what I mean woman!"

Her plump lips upturned mischievously as she slowly shook her glossy mane and twirled a finger at him. "Sure, you enjoy watching nuclear family shows. I wonder what other things you have buried underneath all that bravo of yours?"

The outrage promptly disappeared and was replaced with a sly smirk of his own. "Other than my body." He wiggled his light brows before returning his attention to the road.

Lydia rolled her dark eyes again and propped her head against the headrest. "Haha. Funny."

Turning onto the private drive, the specter laughed boastfully and dutifully sent his tiny wife a smug look. "Well, I do aim to please, Babe." His brows jiggled some more as he pulled into a parking space and shifted the car into gear.

Before she could reach for the seatbelt, Betelgeuse snatched the cake box from her lap and thumbed towards the backseat. "How about you grab Bug, and I'll take all of this food you wanted to bring along."

The startled mother opened her mouth to speak but paused when her husband flashed a saucy wink then hurried out of the vehicle.

Shaking her raven head and unclipping her belt, she quietly followed and made her way to the rear to get their gabbing child.

After retrieving Lucy from the automobile and throwing the diaper bag over her shoulder, the expectant woman eyed her spouse. He was juggling the reusable bags and the cake box as he snatched the rest from the trunk. The loaded container teetered slightly causing Lydia to suck in a harsh breath before shouting something to the poltergeist. "Betelgeuse, please be careful with the cake! It took me forever to get it right."

The dead man rolled his green eyes while he juiced the lid shut. "Yeah, Yeah, woman, I know. I heard ya cursing up a storm in the kitchen while you were making it."

Lydia made a face, remembering bitterly the frustration of that emotional day. It had not been one of her finest moments, and the rampant hormones had not helped. Baking cakes was not something that she normally dabbled in. No, her usual was cookies or pies and if she did make a cake, it wasn't anything colorful. A simple chocolate or vanilla were her go to. It had been trial and error to get the color as vibrant as she had wanted it to be, but in the end, it had turned out.

She promptly turned her nose up at the mocking man and stomped to the entry throwing a response over her shoulder. "I just wanted it to be perfect for when we have the reveal."

Betelgeuse chose to ignore his charming wife's evident annoyance, raising the portable container to inspect it inquisitively then continued to talk. "Remind me again why ya want to do that gender reveal crap? You're not the type to jump on the bandwagon."

He was right. Normally she wasn't the type to jump on any bandwagon and usually left that to her stepmother, but it couldn't be helped. When she had been pregnant with Lucy, there had never been ample time to think about that stuff. Hell, she had been too busy looking over her shoulder and worrying about any damage that Luke might have done to her pregnancy. Lydia just wanted to do something that was normal. Even if she must jump on a trend. Plus, she had to admit it was kind of cute and upped the thrill factor then just simply telling them alone. Blowing some hair out of her face, the hormonal female willingly agreed with her significant other. "I know, but I think it's a cute way to reveal the gender of a baby. Plus, it's more exciting that way."

Carefully lowering the confection container, Betelgeuse shrugged his capable shoulders and snarked out a pained response. "If ya say so, sweets. Now come on and let's get this shit over with."

Her dark brows rose as she swept inquisitive eyes to the side. "You're acting as if this will be painful."

A grimace plastered his features as he scoffed loudly. "When dealin' with the fams, it's always painful, Babe."

Laughing merrily at the dead man's dramatics, Lydia's rosy lips twitched into a sly smirk and curvy hips swung flirtatiously. "Maybe for you…"

Betelgeuse snorted brashly as he diligently followed right behind, his gaze lingering on her wiggling derriere while quipping back sarcastically. "That's not what you were saying the last time we were here."

They tentatively approached the familiar door, and the expectant woman paused a few paces from it to twist around to face him with a loud sniff. "Well, it was nice of them to help you throw me a birthday party, but whatever that one dish that Delia had made had smelt so bad. It wafted throughout the house and made me freaking nauseated. If we hadn't gotten out of there when we did, our night would have been over before it had even started. That would have been a shame, since it had been such a beautiful night."

His green eyes glazed over for a second and his pale lips twitched into a satisfied smirk. The tone of his hearty voice dropped huskily as he vividly remembered the extraordinary events that transpired that night. "That it had babe…" He subsequently sent a knowing wink in her direction and barked out a gravelly chuckle.

Lydia recognized where her clever husband's active thoughts had journeyed, and her rosy cheeks reddened brightly. That part of the memorable night had heated not only them but the chilly October air. The frigid temperature outside kicked up a notch and she fanned herself slightly before knocking lightly on the front door.

Moments later, the polished door swung open to reveal her stout father. A broad smile was plastered on his kindly face as he shouted happily at her with outstretched arms. "Pumpkin!"

She leaned in eagerly to give him a hug before pulling back to warmly greet him in return. "Hi Daddy."

His radiant grin widened while he stepped away from the doorway to allow them access. "Come on in, sweetheart."

Lydia crossed the threshold with Betelgeuse in tow and watched the nervous twitch begin as her dad acknowledged the silent poltergeist. "W…W…Welcome…B…B…Betelgeuse."

The amusement was apparent in her husband's eyes, but thankfully he smothered the obnoxious smile that wanted to come to the surface and instead held up the bags. "What's up Chuck? Where can I take these?"

Her anxious father thrusted an unsteady hand and pointed in the direction of the kitchen. His stuttering was worse than before. "D…D…Delia and B…B…Barbara are in the k…k…kitchen. Y…Y…You can t…t…take them t…t…there."

Lydia had to intervene before her pops had either a stroke or heart attack. She stepped between them blocking her father's source of anxiety. "Here Dad, why don't you take Lulu for me?"

He swallowed roughly and hastily agreed bobbing his round face. "S…s…sure Pumpkin."

She carefully passed along Lucy to her dad's arms and tried to shoot him a reassuring smile. "Thank you, Daddy." Lydia handed him the diaper bag, before continuing. "Take Lucy's diaper bag. If she needs anything it will be in there. I'm going to help Betelgeuse take the food to the kitchen."

Even with her form obstructing his view, her father was still stuttering wildly. "W…w…we'll b…b…be in the f…f…family r…r…room." With that said, he raced through an empty doorway and dropped out of sight.

The pregnant woman sighed heavily then turned to bestow her better half with a pointed look. "You still make Daddy very nervous."

Betelgeuse glanced in the direction that his father-in-law and child had hightailed it to and snorted noisily. He turned back to his wife and levelled his vivid eyes dramatically. "I just look in his direction, and he nearly pisses his pants. What can I do about it?"

Lydia knew her husband was right, but it couldn't keep going on like this. She really was worried something was going to happen to her father. There had to be something that they could do. It is possible he just needed to get to know Betelgeuse better, and that would eventually soothe his anxiety. Her brown eyes bore into his bottle greens and gently pleaded her case. "Would you try spending some time with him? Maybe if you did, he wouldn't be so freaked out."

At her suggestion the poltergeist's face contorted in unspeakable horror and it undoubtedly reflected in his tone. "Me spend time with Chuck? You're shitting me, right?"

She blew her bangs out of the way then bit back a groan of frustration. Lydia expected this reaction though she was completely serious about him spending time with her father. It wouldn't hurt for him to outstretch the olive branch. They were all mature adults here damnit. "No, I'm very serious! If he keeps going like he is, he'll end up having a heart attack or something just as bad. Please do it for me." She glanced up at her husband fluttering her thick lashes with her bottom lip protruding slightly. "Please honey…"

Air released from his lungs and he look away from her pleading features towards the doorway. He glared at it in disgust before returning with resignation. "Fine, but you own me woman."

Her expression brightened with a smile as she came up and kissed him on the cheek. "Anything Love."

He grinned down and winked at her. "I'll keep you to it."

Of course, he would. Lydia was certain she would find out what he wanted tonight. She stepped back and led her man to the cupboard to hang up their coats. Once the articles were stowed away, she closed the closet door and stepped eagerly towards the encumbered specter reaching out to grab one of the bags. "Come on. Let me help."

Betelgeuse leaned away and declined her offer. "Naw I got it."

What the hell! This was getting absurd. Carrying a bag or two wouldn't place that much strain on her. A willing hand moved towards the dessert container, fingers wiggling. "At least let me carry the cake box then." Surly that was light enough for her to cart about.

Still the poltergeist seemed reluctant to give into her reasonable request. Lydia bit back a growl and the urge to stomp a foot childishly. She was about to open her mouth with a snide comment when he grudgingly conceded with an exasperated sigh. "Fine, but nothin' else."

Her lips snapped shut and twitched upward as she took the cake box without another word. She wasn't going to complain. It was better than nothing at all, though she desperately wished he would stop treating her like she was a piece of spun glass. Her cheeks puffed with a slight breath as the annoyed female turned towards the kitchen and leisurely began the brief walk with her other half bringing up the rear.

Just outside of the entrance, the duo could hear Barbara and Delia talking naturally amongst each other. Their familiar voices were too garbled to properly understand what they were saying, and Lydia wasn't sure if she wanted to know anyway. It was still weird to witness them being so civil, especially when the first few years of living together were tense. The two women hadn't always agreed completely, especially when it came to her; one understanding while the other was oblivious to who Lydia truly was. Now it seemed that they have come to some accord and because of it, a strange friendship had started to blossom. It was still something that the young woman was not used to, though she never voiced her unease to the bosom buddies. Barbara was better than Otho any day.

As they stepped carefully into the cavernous room, both women instantly ceased what they were doing. Their faces lit up with excitement and directed a smile at the expectant female. "Lydia!" Barbara and Delia eyed the poltergeist and greeted him with a sharp nod.

Lydia glanced keenly between the two women and her husband. The tension amongst the trio was heavy in the air. Maybe her ghost with the most was the cause of the mutual friendship? Well…They did seem to genuinely feel the same about him; a large amount of mutual distaste and mild disapproval.

An exasperated sigh willingly left her as she gently shook the worrisome thought off for another day and stepped up to the counter. She wisely directed a cheerful smile at the pair and softly placed the cake box on the polished surface. "Hi Guys." Lydia thumbed back at her husband and the cargo of food he was holding. "I hope you don't mind we brought some dishes along."

"My dear Lydia. Of Course not! Your father loves those mashed potatoes you made last year. You did make those, didn't you?" Replied Delia as her glittering eyes eagerly scanned the bags in veiled hunger.

It wasn't only her dad who liked those potatoes. If Lydia remembered correctly, Delia had eaten two large helpings that day. Her glossy lips twitched in amusement while her head bobbled in validation. "Yes, I did. I also made a green bean casserole, Sausage stuffing, and four different pies; apple, cherry, pumpkin, and lemon meringue." She watched Betelgeuse deposit the carrier bags on the empty surface and stepped back to wrap his arm around her growing waist. She cracked a smile then pointed at the dessert container. "I made a cake as well, but that is for after."

This time it was Barbara who spoke. Clearly the ghost's curiosity was piqued. "Why is that?"

The expectant mother bounced on the balls of her feet in excitement and cradled her ample stomach lovingly. "Well, we recently found out the sex of the baby and wanted to tell you all today. So that is what the cake is for."

Delia set down her spatula and clapped her hands together with a good amount of unbridled enthusiasm. "Oh! It's a gender reveal cake! Barbara, remember the video I showed you? The one with the couple with the cupcakes that had either the pink or blue filling. That was so cute!"

Barbara smiled affectionately at Delia's zest and nodded her curly head. "I remember Delia and it was very cute." She swiveled round to Lydia and inquired politely about the dessert. "Lydia, did you make the cake yourself or did you have someone else do it?"

The pregnant woman's ample chest puffed with fierce pride while she glanced happily at the cake and back to the dead lady. "I made it."

Her husband tried masking his humor but failed miserably when he cut in cheekily. "Yeah made with lots of yelling and swearing."

Lydia's plump lips pinched together, and her cheeks burned from embarrassment causing her to turn away from Barbara and glare up at the dead man with a loud huff. "I didn't swear that much."

His wife's attempt to tone down his statement amused the specter further. Betelgeuse felt a snort burst forth and slapped at his thigh. "Hell, if you didn't woman. You were madder than a bull trying to buck off its rider."

Haha. He was such a talented comedian. For all one knows that was his day job? Yep, he stopped the bio-exorcist gig and moved in the direction of comedy. Lydia couldn't help but notice she preferred her old man terrorizing breathers to cracking a bunch of jokes. Christ, they were meant for each other.

His boisterous laughter continued while she jabbed him in his side and made certain he saw her eye roll. That only trigger more snickers which was conveniently ignored as she stepped away from his embrace. Her mouth was parched and wondered if Delia had any sparkling water.

Lydia wandered to the fridge to grab a bottle of water and a long neck. She knew a beer would shut her man up and if it didn't, she'd have him check on Lulu. Heck, she would send him on his way as soon as she promptly delivered his beverage to him.

Grabbing the refreshing drinks, the moody mother returned to her husband's side and held out the beer. "Here. Now why don't you go see how Daddy and Lucy are doing?"

The poltergeist seized the bottle and leaned in to whisper in her ear. "Ya bribing me to get me out of your hair?"

A bemused smile crept onto her features while she popped the p. "Yep. Is it working?"

His broad shoulders lifted then dropped before he tipped the long neck to his lips consuming some of the contents. The dead man pulled the bottle back and flashed his wife another impish grin. "Sure. I'm certain Chuck will be thrilled to see me some more."

Lydia pointed a small finger at his chest and gently reminded him of their exchange minutes ago. "Remember you promised."

His green gaze rotated in their sockets with his blonde head bobbing from side to side and both hands lifting up. "Yeah, Yeah. I'll be nice and show pops that I won't drop him from any stairwells."

Her own stare narrowed, and her dainty hands went to rest on her shapely hips. "Not funny."

Betelgeuse brought up his thumb and pointer finger showing an inch of space. "It's just a little." He cackled at his joke and watched attentively as his wife pointed at him again. "Go. Now."

"Yes Ma'ma." He saluted his angry bride then swooped in to kiss her on the lips before blinking out of sight.

When her husband had disappeared, Lydia tossed her dark head back and let out a deep sigh. She turned to the silent women and smiled before glancing at the counter. "Do you need any help with anything?"

"No, we are just putting some things on platters then we are done. Why don't you unpack your goods?" Her stepmother pointed to the bags then went back to transferring the food onto dishes.

"I can do that." The riled female nodded and went about delicately lifting out her hot dishes from within the bags.

It wasn't long before she had everything open and ready to take to the table. Lydia tilted so that her frame faced her stepmother and asked if they needed any more help. "Do you need me to do anything else?

Delia pointed the spatula at a big bowl of sweet potatoes. "Why don't you begin to take out this bowl?"

"Okay." She picked up the dish and carried it carefully out to the dining room. She set it on the nicely clothed table then went back and forth depositing platters here and there.

After they were done, Lydia slowly sauntered towards the family room to find her husband and child and was hit by the weight of sudden exhaustion. Ugh, just carrying those dishes had spent all of her energy. She placed a hand on belly and gave it a gentle rub. Or her baby was trying to tell her to listen to its daddy? Betelgeuse did tell her to take it easy and so did Irene, but she just couldn't sit by and do nothing. That wasn't in her nature even when she knows that she must.

As Lydia approached the room, the sound of some type of game echoed loudly from the tv. She stepped in to find Betelgeuse sitting on the couch with Lucy on his lap. He bounced their child lightly on the knee causing her to giggle and clap. In the corner was her father sitting in his overstuffed chair nervously watching between the game and the brash poltergeist. He looked like a scared animal stuck in a snare trap. The pregnant woman wondered if having her husband spend some time with her dad was really such a good idea after all.

She cleared her throat and drew their attention. "Hey you guys. The meal is ready."

Her father flew out of his chair rather quickly and hurried past her with a quick thanks. "T…t…thank you, P…p…pumpkin."

"No problem Daddy." She watched him leave the room then turned her focus towards her husband. Her brows rising high in silent questioning.

Betelgeuse shrugged his shoulders and raised his free arm in defense. "I didn't do nothin'. I tried talkin' like you asked but fuck babes, I'd rather converse with Big Red. Hell, I'd probably get more out of her than a bunch of stuttering that dear old pops spews."

Obviously, it hadn't worked since the man bolted from the room in record time. Hopefully her father would eventually relax and stop stammering around her partner. It seemed that it would take a larger amount of time for that to happen. "Just keep trying please. You have to remember that you did try to kill him."

A scoff rang over the loud tv as the dead man stood up and spit out the candid words. "If I had been tryin' to kill him, he would have been dead, sweets. I knew that drop wouldn't do shit to Chuck. He made it, didn't he? "

Lydia rested her forehead against her palm then looked up at him with heavy sigh. "Physically, yes. Emotionally, not so much. Not that my father was emotionally stable to begin with." She began to rock lightly from side to side and tugged her hand through her dark waves. "We did move here to get away from the city, so my dad wouldn't have another nervous breakdown."

His freehand connected with his hip and cocked his blonde brow. "You saying my visit didn't help."

"That is exactly what I'm saying. I guess we will just have to give it some time. Now come on. Barbara aided Delia with some of the dishes, so they aren't that bad this time around. It looks like they are becoming good friends. Better than Otho."

"I'll second that. Though Red and Babs becoming besties most likely will bite me in the ass since they both hate me." The poltergeist ran his hand over his face and into his shaggy mane while shaking his head.

Lydia contemplated his words and shook her own head in disagreement. She didn't think that they hated the dead man. Now it had moved on to something a little less severe. "They don't hate you any longer. These days It's evolved into mild dislike and a slight tolerance in your presence."

His tone was laced with unveiled sarcasm. "Gee that makes me feel much better."

The pregnant woman rubbed her bump and sniffed loudly. "It should. Now I'm getting hungry and need to feed your unborn child."

Betelgeuse's head bowed and swept his hand in the direction of the door. "Well then lead the way, Babes."

Second's later had them walking into the dining room where the other family members had congregated. Lydia noticed that Adam had finally left the attic and was now conversing with her father.

A grin bloomed widely as she called out to the spectacled ghost. "Hi Adam!"

Adam returned the greeting with one of his own. "Hey Lydia!" The light tone hardened as he switched his attention to the poltergeist. "Betelgeuse."

Betelgeuse pulled his pregnant partner firmly to his side and addressed Bab's other half. "Maitland."

Adam's gaze traveled from the specter and to his wife who was chatting with Delia. "Barbara honey, why don't we get going and let them eat?"

Barbara's happy features dimmed at her husband's words and before she could respond, Betelgeuse cut in rudely with a question. "Why ya leaving?"

The couple stared at the dead man as if his head was spinning. "Because we are dead and can't eat."

The poltergeist shrugged his shoulders and looked at them with raised brows. "So, I'm dead and I eat. Doesn't do shit for ya, but at least it's one thing that makes ya feel alive. Haven't ya tried to eat?"

The couple shook their heads in unison as their eyes flicked to the full table. "We haven't been hungry, so we never thought about it really. Would we even be able to taste it?"

Betelgeuse tossed his head back and forth and confirmed their enquiry. "Actually yeah. For some reason we keep our taste buds." He shook his head when it looked like they were going to ask another question. "Don't ask me why. It's just one of the fucked-up things that happens when ya die."

Adam turned to his silent wife and softly asked what she wanted to do. "Honey, do you want to stay?"

Barbara gazed longingly towards the table and her hands twisted together. "If we can eat, Adam, I wouldn't mind. I haven't had green bean casserole in so long and I did make those sweet potatoes that you love."

The dead woman's eyes moved around to the breathing members and tenderly smiled at them. "Do you care if we join you?"

Delia smiled reassuringly and motioned toward some empty seats. "Of course not. You are family after all. Now come sit with us."

They all sat at the large table and began to quietly pass the dishes amongst one another. When their plates were full, they started to eat in comfortable silence.

Delia was the first to break the stillness with a question to her step daughter. "Lydia dear, how is your pregnancy going?"

Lydia swallowed the bite she had taken then reached out to wash it down with some water before answering her stepmother. "It's been good. This month I have been dealing with a little bit of high blood pressure though. Our midwife is going to keep an eye on it just in case it should get worse or I end up with protein in the urine."

Barbara's soft voice joined the conversation with a question of her own. "What does the protein mean?"

The pregnant women slid some more food onto her daughter's tray before peering at the anxious faces of her loved one. She had known as soon as she had brought up the complications of her pregnancy that they all would be worried. It would be best just to explained what it all meant and hope that they would be okay. Hell, she needed them to be okay because she was trying really hard not to let her own anxiety get the best of her. "It could be a sign that we are dealing with the onset of preeclampsia, though you can have it without the protein as well."

Delia's red lips thinned, and concern flooded her lean features. She cleared her throat and tried to hide the worry with another enquiry. "Preeclampsia? That can be dangerous, right?"

Lydia wasn't going to lie. It could be dangerous if not monitored and left to its own accord. "If left untreated, yes. We are just going to keep my blood pressure monitored and should something arise then we will deal with it. As long as we can control it, everything should be fine."

Adam spoke this time around pushing up his glasses that begun to slide down the bridge of his nose. "But the baby is okay?"

She tried to send a reassuring smile to all the worried faces. "Yes, the baby is fine and doesn't seem to be in any kind of distress."

Delia released a shaky breath as her gaze traveled to the munching child and smiled lovingly at her. "That's good to hear. Now how is our little granddaughter doing?"

Lydia fluffed Lucy's hair and smiled when the little girl shook her hand off her head. "Lucy is right on track for her percentile and growing every day. She just started to use the furniture to help walk around. I wouldn't be shocked if before long that she was walking on her own."

"Wow I can't believe she's walking!" Exclaimed Barbara, who leaned her head on her husband's shoulder and sent him a look.

The young mother flashed a grin at her own partner and let out an amused laugh. "Yeah we were surprised when we saw her and so not ready for her to be mobile."

Her father cleared his throat then began to nervously speak. "P…P…Pumpkin, y…y…you w…w…walked ab…b…bout her age."

Surprise lit her features. It was rare when her dad spoke about the past. Her mother wasn't a topic that he talked about that often. "Really?"

He nervously smiled as he continued in his stuttering manner. "Y…y…your mother s…s…said the same thing to me when y…y…you took your first s…steps. I…I…I think we have s…s…some photographs somewhere, d…d…don't we Dee?" His gaze left her to trail to her stepmother who was adding an extra helping of potatoes.

The hungry parental turn up from her plate and shook her head in agreement. "Yes, I think they are in a trunk in one of the closets." She swung her attention towards Lydia once again. "I'll have to find where they are, and I'll have them for you on your next visit."

Lydia inclined her raven head and directed a genuine smile at her stepmother. "Thanks Delia. That would be wonderful."

Delia returned the gesture then shifted her inquisitive gaze to Betelgeuse before flicking back to her form. Her stepmother tried to slyly ask what she wanted to know without exactly asking outright. It was not lost on those in the room. "So….Is everything else good?"

'Real subtle there Delia.' The young mother thought drily as she turned to her husband, brows raising while he just rolled his bright eyes and wisely kept his mouth shut. She bit back a giggle and swung her attention back towards her nosey stepparent. "Everything is great. I've been taking photographs again. It's good to be adding new images to my website and I even sold some to a couple of galleries. Not that we needed the money. I still have quite a bit from my last gallery deal and the proceeds from what was sold. Also, Betelgeuse brings home whatever we need. I am really enjoying staying home with Lucy and cannot wait for the little one to join us."

All eyes moved to the poltergeist at the table with a large dose of curiosity. Adam shoved his frames up again and asked the other dead man what everyone else wanted to know. "Betelgeuse…are you still doing the bio-exorcist gig?"

Betelgeuse wondered when they would stick their noses his way. It had taken less time than he had thought. Biting back his sarcasm, more for his wife than his own benefit, he answered the wholesome ghost. "Naw. I don't do that line of work anymore."

Brows rose at the unexpected response and silence descended for a minute before Delia's lofty tone broke it. "If you don't mind me asking, what do you do then?"

Lydia sat quietly, biting her lip as she waited for her husband's reply. What he did was one of many things that she didn't know about him. Everything about their relationship had happened so fast and she hadn't wanted to come off as nosey and clingy. Plus, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know or not really. Maybe somethings were better left unknown. After all he was a very power and considerably dangerous specter. He had no problem hurting others when need be; Not that he would hurt her, but hell hath no fury like a pissed off poltergeist.

His green gaze left the other dead man and grinned rather smugly at his condescending mother-in-law while boasting with that utter confidence of his. "I now help freshly awaken Netherfolk adjust to the afterlife. I answer any questions and deal with any problems that they might have. By speaking to me, they don't have to use up their visits with their case workers and aren't fed the line of bullshit that comes with it."

Barbara's brow furrowed in confusion and glanced her husband's way then back to the poltergeist. "Why the change?"

A snort erupted from him and tossed his blond mane turning in the direction of the curly headed ghost. "Wouldn't it have been helluva lot easier if you would have had someone there to answer your bloody questions?"

Her furrow deepened even though she agreed with his statement. "Of course, it would have."

Betelgeuse took a bite from his plate then tilted his fork at the couple. "That's why I do it. My time in the waiting room had me realizing that there were way too many Netherfolk saying the same damn thing. They wished that they would have had some guidance instead of that damn handbook or using up a futile visit and getting the run around."

Adam rubbed his chin with his thumb and pointer and shook his head. "That makes sense."

The poltergeist snorted once more and grinned manically. "It sure does, and it pisses off the higher ups in the process."

Lydia smothered her smile at her husband's response with a sip from her glass while silence descended the table.

Soon the plates were empty, and the half-eaten dishes were taken back to the kitchen and packed away for later consumption. The desserts were distributed by request though the cake Lydia had slaved over was on the table waiting to be cut into.

The pregnant mother nudged her husband with her foot and leaned around the high chair to whisper to him. "Since everything is starting to slow down, I think it's time for the reveal."

Betelgeuse could care less if they told the folks or not, but it made his woman happy, so he would go along with it. "Whatever you want to do babe."

Lydia's smile brightened before turning to look at the chatting couples. She cleared her throat and began to talk. "As some of you know, we found out the gender of the baby recently and wanted to do something fun to let you all know what grandbaby you will be greeting in a few months. I made a gender cake…" Motioning with her hand at the white frosted cake while Betelgeuse finished her sentence. "So, we will be hacking into the thing."

If the baby chair wasn't between them, she would have elbowed him. "Thanks B."

He ignored her sarcasm and winked at her cheekily. "Any time love."

Eyes rolling, Lydia pulled the cake closer, so she could cut into it. All watched excitedly as the knife sliced into the fluffy dessert and the pregnant woman carefully lifted out a bright blue piece.

Happy shouts erupted at the sight and the couples hugged each other tightly. "It's a boy!"

After the excitement calmed some, Delia smiled at the duo. "Have you thought about names?"

Lydia shook her dark head at her stepmother. "No not yet. We just found out a couple of days ago and have just been processing that we are having a boy."

Grabbing a napkin, Delia dabbed the corner of her eyes and nudged her husband with a shoulder. "I cannot believe our little girl has not only one child but another on the way." Patting the spots some more, she turned back to Lydia and sniffled slightly. "You grew up in the blink of an eye. Now look at you, married and with kids."

Watching the formidable Delia Deetz tear up was too much for the already sensitive woman. She felt the well of emotions rushing forth and softly pleaded with her stepmother. "Please don't cry. If you do, then I will too. These hormones are worse this time around."

A snort erupted from the side and her husband's unabashed tone washed over the table. "You don't have to tell me."

Her misty eyes narrowed in his direction and lips pinched tightly. The urge to cry evaporated when the rise of anger overwhelmed her. She slapped the table top and bitterly snapped. "What's that supposed to me? Are my mood swings an inconvenience to you, dear husband?"

The other occupants watched with wide curious eyes while the poltergeist scoffed loudly and returned her glare with one of his own. "Now woman, I didn't say that and don't be puttin' words in my mouth! You know I could care two shits about those damn mood swings and you ain't an inconvenience. You will never be one to me, so get that out of your pretty little head."

They glowered at each other for a few minutes before Lydia turned away with a huff and silently reached out to dish herself some of that lemon meringue pie.

No one said anything else as stillness descended upon the group. They all ate their desserts quietly and when finished eating, they slowly started to clean up the dirty dishware.

By the time that everything was picked up and packed away, the sun had begun to set, and the small family was ready to go home. Lucy had started to get cranky and no amount of soothing was working. As for Lydia, she could barely keep her lids open prompting the young mother to head towards the coat closet.

She jumped slightly clutching the coats to her chest when she turned around to find Delia right behind her. Sweet Jesus! How the hell did the woman do that? Was she part ninja or something?

Her stepmother directed a tense smile her way and lightly cleared her throat. "Lydia could I have a minute?"

Delia was nervous and that did not bode well. Lydia's clenched hands tightened on the fabric and her voice pitched slightly as she forced herself to respond. "Sure. What would you like to talk about?"

The older woman flashed another tense smile before carefully weighting her words. "I didn't want to bring it up and I am even more reluctant especially with how you have been feeling lately, but I thought you needed to know." Delia rung her hand tightly together while she grudgingly continued. "I received a call the other day from a detective inquiring about HIM." She spit out the word him as if it were poison and her lips flattened into a thin line.

"You did?" It never crossed her mind that they would call her folks. Why would they need to do that? The urge to vomit hit the edgy woman and her vision began to swim slightly. Couldn't they leave them alone? Luke was gone and wasn't coming back anytime soon. If her blood pressure wasn't high before, it was now. She pushed down the impulse to throw up and took in several deep breaths through her nose. Her tongue felt heavy as she spoke. "What did they want to know?"

Delia didn't seem to notice her stepdaughter's internal battle and answered the young woman's nervous inquiry. "Mostly it was about HIM, but they did ask about your relationship with your husband, Benjamin. It took me a second to realize who they were talking about."

Stepping back so that she was resting against the closed door, her throat seemed to tighten uncomfortably making it hard to respond. "What did you tell them?"

"Well, I didn't know your back story, but I tried to keep it as vague as possible. I said that you and Benjamin used to be involved. It wasn't until a couple years later that you reconnected and ended getting married. It was a far healthier relationship then the one you had with HIM." Delia crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her heeled foot against the hardwood floors. "I also told them that we haven't seen the hide or tail of HIM since he beat the shit out of you and we were called to the hospital. Plus, he wasn't the fatherly type, so it hadn't surprised your father and I that he skipped out on you. Hell, he wasn't even boyfriend material."

Lydia pulled away from the door and ran a shaky hand through her dark hair then sighed heavily. "I'm so sorry Delia. I didn't think that they would call you. Their visit really shook me up and all I wanted to do was put it all behind us. So, it never crossed my mind to warn you that they might contact you."

Delia's harsh features soften while she stepped closer reaching out to lightly touch her bicep. The tone of her voice no longer held the bite it did seconds ago. "Lydia, I know we are not very close, but I do think of you as my daughter and would do anything for you. I never want to see you hurt like you were that day ever again and I most definitely will not help anyone to find out what happen to the punk that did it. He reaped what he sowed and deserved what happened to him." She smiled softly and gave her arm a little squeeze. "After all of that crappy mess, you seem really happy now and I won't have anyone ruining that."

Tears pooled at her stepmother's defense causing the young mother to blink furiously and reached over to touch the hand on her arm. "Thanks Delia."

Delia's smile warmed immensely as she spoke. "Always, my dear."

Lydia batted her lids a few more times and sent a watery smile of her own. "You know, I am happy. So much so that I could burst."

Light eyes flicked to the doorway then back to her form. A sigh left the older woman and grudgingly conceded with the younger woman's words. "Even though I have reservations about your current relationship…I know you are. Now dry your eyes and let's go say our goodbyes with the rest of the family."

Lydia released the hold on her stepmother's hand and stepped away to wipe her wet eyes with the back of her freed hand. She sniffled some and tucked a few strands of hair behind an ear while nodding her head in agreement.

With the conversation over, both women returned so they could begin to bid others farewell.

Once the couple and their child were in the car, the dead man turned his eagle eyes on his quiet wife. He didn't miss the slight puff around her eyes clearly indicating that the waterworks had been running during her interaction with the dragon. "Lyds, you gonna tell me what happened with Big Red?"

Lydia picked at the threads of her coat then glanced up at her husband whispering in return. "Those detectives called and spoke to Delia. She wanted us to know that she didn't give them any information other than a vague story about our past."

The poltergeist grunted loudly, not looking distressed in the slightest from the information just given. "They were most likely checking out our story to see if it matched up. I wouldn't worry about it babe. It's routine in an investigation." He explained while shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.

His clarification did nothing to sooth her jumbled nerves and her response obviously emphasized that. "Routine. Okay…sure…"

A sigh slipped passed his bloodless lips as he rubbed a hand over his face in frustration. Betelgeuse knew that tone well. His little wife was not easily convinced when it came to the topic of those damned detectives. They had set her on edge which was not something that was good right now. He tried once again to soothe her worried mind by grabbing her hand and bringing it up to his lips to kiss her knuckles lightly. "Seriously Sweetheart, you shouldn't be worrying about it. Not with how ya have been feeling. We don't want your blood pressure raising remember." He kissed the soft skin one more time and a light breath of air escaped her tired form.

Lydia's free hand came up to pinch the bridge of her nose while shaking her weary head in agreement. "I know, but I can't help it though. Just thinking about the whole situation kicks my anxiety into overdrive." She gazed over at him with dewy eyes and watched him skim her knuckles some more then nuzzle it gently against his cheek.

"That's for sure Babe, but dwelling on it ain't gonna do shit, other than putting you and the baby in danger." He tenderly pulled the female in question into his embrace and held her tightly as he whispered reassuring into her ear. "I've told ya before that they're not gonna find anything."

She clung to him closely, burying her face between the juncture of his neck and taking in the calming earthy scent. Warm breath tickled the poltergeist's cool skin while the pregnant woman voiced the apprehension she was currently experiencing. "What if they do?"

Betelgeuse reached up to stroke her hair soothingly and vehemently made a vow. "They won't. I promise you that Babe." He kissed the crown gently before reluctantly releasing her. "Now let's get you and Bug home."

Lydia wiped her damp gaze and shook her head, pulling away to buckle herself in. "Okay B." Even with his reassurances she couldn't help the inkling of worry that smothered her waking days. Don't worry he says but how could she not when she has so much to lose. Air forced from her nose as she laid her head back against headrest and closed her tired eyes. The lull of the moving vehicle had her anxious form sleeping within minutes.

Once they got home, the poltergeist sat back against his seat and took a couple of cleansing breaths. His vision turned to his small wife and watched her chest slowly rise and fall as she peacefully slept on. Their conversation earlier had troubled his mind the whole drive home. He rubbed his palm against his face then ran his fingers through his shaggy hair. Betelgeuse wasn't sure what he could do to make his wife feel better. Keeping her relaxed and worry free was the key but fuck if he knew how to accomplish that. Right now, all he can do is take his sleeping family in the house and deal with it as it comes.

The dead man rubbed his face some more before finally slipping out of the vehicle. He quietly opened the rear door and unbuckled his sleeping child then carried her into the house. He carefully deposited her into the crib juicing her into pajamas and pulling a light blanket over her tiny body. Giving her cheek a soft kiss, the poltergeist made his way back into the garage to get his slumbering wife.

Betelgeuse silently opened the passenger door and gently released his unconscious partner from the seat then tried not to jostle her awake when he lifted her from the car. He shut the door with his hip and made his way back into the dwelling.

Stepping into their room, he approached their bed and rested his exhausted woman on the soft surface. The poltergeist's fingers snapped replacing her outfit for a comfortable sleep shirt and juicing the blanket out from under her to cover her already shivering frame.

He glanced at his watch and debated if he was still going to run that errand. It was pretty late though time meant nothing in the Netherworld. Hell, time wasn't the factor here; the red tape was and could take forever to get shit processed. It was better to get this done so he didn't end up breaking the rules. Not that it bothered him any to do so, but he promised Lyds and damn if he'd break it. Fuckin' a, he was pussywhipped. The dead man never thought that day would come. Betelgeuse laughed quietly to his self and shook shaggy head while he bent down to kiss his slumbering wife lightly on the lips before blinking out of sight. He popped into a familiar dingy office and kicked back in one of the chairs to wait for the old girl to come.

Juicing himself a cigarette, the specter slowly drew in a lung full of smoke and scanned the room. It hadn't changed much. It was still drab and boring as all hell. At least she shut the damn shutters this time around. Ha, the old bat must have gotten sick of seeing all those sheep perform the same shit every single fucking day.

The door creaked as it opened drawing the dead man's attention and watched his old mentor step into the small room.

She looked none too pleased when she spotted the sprawled-out poltergeist. Her pale eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Geuse, what are you doing here?"

Betelgeuse puffed on his cigarette and blew out a few rings of smoke. "Aww is that anyway to talk to your favorite person?"

Juno scanned the room and shrugged her bony shoulders. "Who is that? I don't see them."

The old broad did have a sense of humor after all. He placed a hand over his still heart and sent her a wounded look. "Ouch and here I thought we were getting along so well."

A snort escaped her frail frame as she made her way to her desk. "You thought wrong. Now what do you want?" Juno flicked her boney hand at his boots and glared icily. "And get your feet off my desk."

His feet dropped from the table top and carefully adjusted himself in the chair. The poltergeist continued to puff on his cigarette as he juiced some papers in front of her. "I have some things I need to get approved."

The old woman's face light up with surprise then tightened in suspicion once again while thumbing through the paperwork. "When have you ever asked to do something?"

Betelgeuse contemplated her words for a second and shrugged his shoulder. "Well fuck never, but there is always a start. I told ya that shit was gonna change." He drew in another breath of smoke and watched his prior superior.

Her thin brow rose while she questioned him further. "And you come to me, Why?"

An amused laugh sprung from him and he shook his head. "As much as ya don't want to admit. You're my case worker, Junie. If I want somethin' done, I'm gonna have to go through you. Everything ya need is right there. All ya have to do is turn them in for approval."

Juno straightened the papers then set them down in front of her. "I will have to look at these before I turn in anything from you Geuse."

The dead man agreed with her request and bowed his head in her direction. "Fair enough, but it's all there nonetheless. I know the rules just as much as you do." He flashed her a toothy grin and raised his lit cig to his dry lips.

"You know the loop holes as well." Stated the sarcastic case worker with another pointed glare.

Betelgeuse wasn't perturbed in the slightest and instead appeared to be rather pleased. "That I do. Though It's not like those other times, but…if ya wanna read all that paperwork, well, I ain't not gonna stop ya. I guess ya have to do something to deal with all of this fuckin' boredom."

Juno shook her head sadly, lighting a cigarette of her own. "Not all of us are bothered by the office setting."

His face contorted into a snarl and the words that flew out of the specter's mouth were sharp as razors. "Or ya just don't wanna stir the water and make waves."

She didn't seem fazed by his insinuation and sucked in a large puff of smoke. Some leaked out of the wound in her neck as she spoke. "We've reaped what we sowed."

He thumbed at himself and tossed his blonde head in disagreement. "Not me. I just got placed here cuz they didn't know what do with me after that incident with my car."

"Your car was alive and causing mass destruction in the Netherworld." Said Juno dryly, her free hand coming up to pinch the bridge of her nose.

Betelgeuse's green gaze glazed over at the memory then his smirk widened with humor. "What can I say, he just wanted to have a good time."

A billow of smoke escaped the wound as the elderly woman sighed heavily from the clear lack of remorse on the dead man's part. "I wouldn't call plowing into Netherfolks and their pets a good time."

He looked at her as if she had gone nuts and flail his arms in the air in exasperation. "No one got hurt and shit, they are dead for fucks sake!"

Ashing her cigarette into a small ashtray on her desk, Juno threw him another sharp glare then pointed it at him. "I was not speaking about physical damage. Some are still seeing therapists because of it."

"Hmm…No shit." He sat in contemplative silence sucking slowly on the last of his cig before raising his arm to lower his sleeve, so he could glance at his watch. He flicked the cigarette butt and it vanished just as it was about to hit the floor. Betelgeuse adjusted his jacket and grinned toothily at the quiet caseworker. "Well Junie this has been fun, and I'd love to stay and shoot the shit about my past deeds, but I have another place to be. You know how to get a hold of me if ya need to."

Sarcasm was heavy on her tongue while shaking her head for the umpteenth time. "It was a blast as always..."

The poltergeist rotated his shoulders and puffed out his chest as he boasted. "When the ghost with the most is involved it is."

The older women rocked her pale eyes toward the ceiling taking in another puff of smoke before waving the big-headed ghost with her boney hand. "Go Geuse, before I come to my senses and change my mind."

Betelgeuse just grinned at her broadly and winked while blinking out of sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Holy crap! This took me a lot longer than I had anticipated. I'm not sure when the next update will be so keep a lookout for it. I hope everyone enjoyed this latest installment and please drop me a review.


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